Out of her sphere - University Library

BORNE BACK TO LIFE. 31
was alive—alive when he had gone pre-
pared to meet death face to face—when he
had met the cold rush of the waters sweep-
ing over him, and thought, as he was
hurled down upon the slippery stone, up
which he was making his way, that now, at
last, the end of all had come, and wondered
whether the waters that swept over him
had in the same instant submerged his
wdfe. As he fell prone against an upper
stone with such a force that cut his temple,
and left him insensible for a time, he had
just one wish dimly struggling through his
failing consciousness, and that was, that he
might have still held her in his arms, that
so they might have passed to their last
sleep together. That was the last thought
he remembered; now, as he looked vacantly
around the bare grey walls of the Fort, it
was hard to reahze the fact that he was
still a living, breathing man ; and, just at
first, he could realize nothing more ; not