Then, with a sickening sense of helplessness, she felt herself torn from him, and whirled away like a leaf.

The rank smell of the muddy water was in her nostrils, the fear of death in her heart.

She struggled to keep afloat.

Suddenly a blood-streaked face appeared, and Blake, bleeding from a cut on the forehead, caught her with a strong grip and drew her to him.

A few more seconds of whirling chaos, and she felt land under her feet, and Blake half-carrying her to the bank.