of it was stunning. It was transmitted up his spine into the back of his
skull, so that his teeth cracked against each other and bright lights
starred his vision. The river swallowed him under. He went down deep,
but he was still moving so fast when he hit the rocky bottom that his
legs were jarred to the hips. He felt his knees buckle under the strain,
and he thought that both his legs had been broken.
The impact drove the air out of his lungs, and it was only when he
kicked off the bottom, desperate for air, that -he realized with a rush
of relief that both his legs were still intact. He broke out through the
surface, wheezing an coughing, and realized that he must have missed the
island by only the length of his body. However, by now the current had
carried him well clear of it.
He trod water on the racing stream, shook the water from his eyes and
looked around him swiftly. The walls of the chasm were streaming past
him, and he estimated his speed at around ten knots - fast enough to
break bone if he hit a rock. As he thought it, another small island
flashed past him almost close enough to touch. He rolled on to his back
and thrust both feet out ahead of him, ready to fend off should he be
thrown on to another outcrop.
'You are in for the whole ride, he told himself grimly.
'There is only one way out, and that is to ride it to the bottom.'
He was trying to calculate how far he was above the point where the
river debauched from the chasm through the pink stone archway, how far
he still had to swim.
'Three or four miles, at the least, and the river falls almost a
thousand feet. There are bound to be rapids and probably waterfalls
ahead,' he decided. 'From here it does not look good. I' say the betting
is three to one against getting through without leaving some skin and
meat on the rocks behind you.'
He looked up. The walls canted in from each side, so that at places they
almost met directly over his head. There was only a narrow strip of blue
sky showing, and the depths were gloomy and dank. Over the ages the
river had scoured the rock as it cut its way through.
'Damned lucky this is the dry season. What is it like down in here in
the rainy season?' he wondered. He looked up at the high-water mark
etched on the rock fifteen or twenty feet above his head.
Shuddering at the image he looked down again, concentrating on the river
ahead. He had his breath back by now, and he checked his body for any
damage. With relief he decided that, apart from some bruising and what
felt like a sprained knee, he was unhurt. All his limbs were responding,
and when he swam a few strokes to one side to avoid another spur of
rock, even the sore knee worked well enough to get him out of trouble.
Gradually he became aware of a new sound in the canyon. It was a dull
roar, growing stronger as he sped onward down The walls of the chasm
converged upon each other, the gut of rock narrowed and the flood seemed
to accelerate as it was squeezed in and confined. The sound of water
built up rapidly into a thunder that reverberated in the canyon.
Nicholas rolled over and swam with all his strength across the current
until he reached the nearest rock wall.
