The larger half of the
little equipage had then cleared our over-towering shadow: _that_
was evident even to my own agitated sight. But it mattered little that
one wreck should float off in safety if upon the wreck that perished
were embarked the human freightage. The rear part of the carriage--was
_that_ certainly beyond the line of absolute ruin? What power could
answer the question? Glance of eye, thought of man, wing of angel,
which of these had speed enough to sweep between the question and the
answer, and divide the one from the other? Light does not tread upon
the steps of light more indivisibly than did our all-conquering arrival
upon the escaping efforts of the gig. _That_ must the young man
have felt too plainly. His back was now turned to us; not by sight
could he any longer communicate with the peril; but, by the dreadful
rattle of our harness, too truly had his ear been instructed that all
was finished as regarded any effort of _his_. Already in resignation he
had rested from his struggle; and perhaps in his heart he was
whispering, "Father, which art in heaven, do Thou finish above what I
on earth have attempted." Faster than ever mill-race we ran past them
in our inexorable flight. Oh, raving of hurricanes that must have
sounded in their young ears at the moment of our transit! Even in that
moment the thunder of collision spoke aloud.
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