So she threw her arms around Jason's neck;
and lifting her from the ground, he stepped bold-
ly into the raging and foamy current, and began
to stagger away from the shore. As for the pea-
cock, it alighted on the old dame's shoulder.
Jason's two spears, one in each hand, kept him
from stumbling, and enabled him to feel his way
among the hidden rocks; although, every in-
stant, he expected that his companion and him-
self would go down the stream, together with
the driftwood of shattered trees, and the car-
casses of the sheep and cow. Down came the
cold, snowy torrent from the steep side of
Olympus, raging and thundering as if it had a
real spite against Jason, or, at all events, were
determined to snatch off his living burden from
his shoulders. When he was half way across,
the uprooted tree (which I have already told you
about) broke loose from among the rocks, and
bore down upon him, with all its splintered
branches sticking out like the hundred arms of the
giant Briareus. It rushed past, however, without
touching him. But the next moment, his foot
was caught in a crevice between two rocks, and
stuck there so fast, that, in the effort to get free,
he lost one of his golden-stringed sandals.

[[280]]

p279 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p280w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p281

v?