tainly safer. The lights, too, helped to take away the really terrifying effect of the vivid lightning.
The place at the wheel was partitioned off, and that little pilot house, as it were, was left in darkness, to enable Blake and Mr. Ringold to see to steer.
They could do little, however, save to try and cross the current in a diagonal direction, to make their way to some sheltered cove.
"This certainly is the limit!" murmured Blake, as he stood at the manager's side. "I didn't think there was any more rain left in the clouds."
"There seems to be plenty coming down," observed the theatrical man, grimly. They listened to it pelting on the cabin roof. It was a constant roar, and added to it was the thunder of the sky artillery, following each flash, and the never-ceasing hiss and hum of the rushing river.
"We'll have to look out for debris as best we can," spoke Mr. Ringold. "There are some big logs afloat, and if one hits us end on"
He did not finish, but Blake realized what he meant.
"Look! That struck just in front of us!" cried the youth, as he and his companion shrank back, instinctively, from a particularly vivid flash.
His words were drowned in the shock that fol-
