I struck water, sank; the hands that gripped my throat relaxed for a moment their clutch.

I strove to writhe loose; felt that I was being hurled with dreadful speed on--full realization came--on the breast of that racing torrent dropping from some far ocean cleft and rushing--where?
A little time, a few breathless instants, I struggled with the devil who clutched me--inflexibly, indomitably.
Then a shrieking as of all the pent winds of the universe in my ears--blackness! Consciousness returned slowly, agonizedly.
"Larry!" I groaned.

"Lakla!" A brilliant light was glowing through my closed lids.

It hurt.

I opened my eyes, closed them with swords and needles of dazzling pain shooting through them.