Linking her arm in his, he began to push through the crowd. The grizzled man said something to his comrade, and they spread out and formed a human barrier to his further progress. "Don't butt in, boys--'tain't healthy," warned Jim. "Git him!" whispered the grizzled man, "and yank him back in the river!" Jim's hand flew to his belt and the big revolver was jerked out in a trice. He pushed it into the stomach of the foremost man, and caused that worthy to shiver with terror. The latter backed away, whilst his friends hunted for firearms. "Stand aside!" roared Jim. The lane widened, but at the end of it were two men handling revolvers, with a dangerous glint in their eyes. "So yore after stoppin' a man eloping with his own wife, eh?" "Wife----?" "Thet's so." The crowd stared. This put a new complexion on matters. The Captain looked at Angela. "Say, is that husky your 'old man'?" Angela flushed with embarrassment. "I hate him, and I won't go with him!" she cried hotly. The Captain spread out his hands. "Why in hell didn't you say so afore?" he asked Jim. "Is it any of your darned business?" "I guess it's your funeral, all right," chuckled the grizzled man. "Better come on as far as Eagle. I'll put you off there," said the Captain. "Can't stop just here." Jim shook his head and moved towards the rail. "I'm sure in a hurry," he said. "We ain't scared of a drop of water, are we Angy?" Angela bestowed upon him a look of mingled contempt and terror. The high wooded bank seemed miles away, and the river ran like a millrace. "I won't come--I won't!" she hissed. But he had already reached the rail. Her heart seemed to freeze with horror as he lifted her on to the seat and clasped her firmly round the waist, imprisoning her arms so that resistance became impossible. "Stop!" yelled the Captain. "You can't go that way----" A gasp came from the crowd as they saw him take a deep breath and leap down with his burden. They disappeared beneath the filthy water, to come to the surface a few seconds later in exactly the same position as they had entered it--Angela with her arms held from behind, and the amazing husband swimming on his broad back, with head towards the nearest bank. The current carried him down-stream, but his inshore progress was swift and certain. A huge yell came from the admiring spectators as the _Silas P. Young_ pursued her course and rounded another bend. Angela, stunned and terrified by this unexpected precipitation into ice-cold water, lay like a log with eyes closed. She lost all account of time in the mental paralysis that gripped her.... Only when they touched bottom and Jim commenced to carry her to the bank did her full sense come into operation. She stood in her sodden clothing, her pale, beautiful face quivering as she regarded this monster of a man. "You brute! You heartless ruffian! Oh, if I could only make you feel what I think of you!"