Instead, chance had ordained that she make the frightful plunge at
a point where the tumbling river swung close beneath the overhanging
cliff to eddy for a slow moment in a deep pool before plunging madly
downward again in a cataract of boiling foam, and water thundering
against rocks.
Into this icy pool the girl shot, and down and down beneath the
watery surface until, half choked, yet fighting bravely, she battled
her way once more to air. Swimming strongly she made the opposite
shore and there dragged herself out upon the bank to lie panting
and spent until the approaching dawn warned her to seek concealment,
for she was in the country of her people's enemies.
Rising, she moved into the concealment of the rank vegetation that
grows so riotously in the well-watered kors(1) of Pal-ul-don.
_______________________________________________________________
(1) I have used the Pal-ul-don word for gorge with the English
plural, which is not the correct native plural form. The latter,
it seems to me, is awkward for us and so I have generally ignored
it throughout my manuscript, permitting, for example, Kor-ul-ja
to answer for both singular and plural. However, for the benefit
of those who may be interested in such things I may say that the
plurals are formed simply for all words in the Pal-ul-don language
by doubling the initial letter of the word, as k'kor, gorges, pronounced
as though written kakor, the a having the sound of a in sofa.
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