At that dread question his heart sank within him. The remembrance of his recent plunge beneath the furious billows where he had been hurled down, and whirled round, and thrown out again, was still most vivid. He thought of Pat as being engulfed beneath them still. His own escape seemed little short of miraculous, and he could not hope that both of them were safe. Such an escape was astonishing for one, but for two it was too much to hope for. He did not dare to look back. He was afraid to know the worst, and that look back, he thought, would show him only the dark water. For a time he felt as though he would rather fear the worst, than actually know it; and so, despairingly, he was swept on, and passed under the bridge in the same attitude in which he had emerged from the Falls. Suddenly from behind him there sounded a cry,-- “Hooray!” A thrill of joy passed through Phil. It was Pat’s voice. In an instant his terror fled, and he looked back. There, to his amazement, close behind him, he saw Pat, drifting along, with his face above water fully revealed, and showing, even at that dread moment, the calm self-reliance and good-natured ease that always distinguished him. Phil was so overcome with joy, that he could not say a word. “Sure an it’s rather wet, so it is,” said Pat, in as natural a tone as though he were walking along the road in a rain shower. Phil made no answer. Again they drifted on in silence. Now, as for Pat, at the moment when the boat hung hovering on the edge of the fall, he had stood, keen, watchful, observant, with every one of his wits about him, and had shouted out to Phil. Phil had jumped first, but Pat followed immediately. His experience was like that of Phil, with this difference--that he was under water a little longer. On emerging, he saw Phil a little in front of him, and so he felt at ease on that score. His first thought now was about the boat. He looked back, and saw it not more than six feet behind him, bottom upwards. Upon this he was seized with a very strong desire to gain the boat once more; and so he floated on for a time, thinking what to do. At length he made an effort to swim back towards it. The progress that he made was scarce perceptible, and he could hardly have gained the boat by his own efforts; but, fortunately, the river current favored him, for the boat reached a place where it was whirled round so that its stern came close to him. A vigorous effort enabled him to seize it, and it was his joy at this which had elicited the cry that had first given to Phil the knowledge of his safety. The other remark, about the wetness of the place, was merely owing to the same exultation, and was intended to convey to Phil something of the same cheerful confidence that filled his own mind.