Chapter 5
All Tricia could remember was a violent sensation of falling.
Now she and Sally were suddenly in the middle of a rapidly moving river!
"Sally!" Tricia yelled as she saw her friend struggling about ten feet in front of her, "there's a big rock near the shore going with the current! Let's see if we can make it there!"
The two girls struggled valiantly against the river's surging power, and finally made it to the huge rock. They were both exhausted and each of them felt the stinging breath shoot into their lungs like fire.
The only thing that saved the girls from certain death was the cushiony-like clumps of dense green foliage lining the side of the canyon walls and the river which had completely and effectively halted the momentum of their fall. They were more shocked than hurt physically.
"God, Tricia!" Sally gasped as she looked up at the top of the canyon, trying to get a glimpse of Don or Ron. "They're gone! My God! They're gone!"
"There's no telling how far down stream the current carried us. All I remember is rolling and turning and then everything was wet."
Ron was shouting desperately at the foot of the ledge where the earth had broken away.
"There's no answer!" he said to Don as his voice quivered. "They're done for!"
"Get my binoculars!" Ron said. Don removed Ron's binoculars' from the backpack and handed them to Ron.
"Hey," Ron said as he focused in on the river at the bottom of the canyon. "There's a river down there!"
"Do you think that they could've fell in and were carried downstream?" Don asked his friend.
"That's the assumption we've got to operate on," Ron replied. "We've got to assume that they are still alive. If we don't we might as well give up now and report all this to the ranger."
"Yeah, I think you're right, Ron," Don said. "I think we should walk down into the canyon and see what we can find. If we take the time to hike back and find the ranger now, it might be too late when we get back."
"Let's go!" Ron said.