I just said , ` Dear God , please take the flat close to a pile and I 'll do the rest , ' over and over again . Under such circumstances you do n't think much about making a flowery prayer . But mine was answered , for the flat bumped right into a pile for a minute and I flung the scarf and the shawl over my shoulder and scrambled up on a big providential stub . And there I was , Mrs. Allan , clinging to that slippery old pile with no way of getting up or down . It was a very unromantic position , but I did n't think about that at the time . You do n't think much about romance when you have just escaped from a watery grave . I said a grateful prayer at once and then I gave all my attention to holding on tight , for I knew I should probably have to depend on human aid to get back to dry land . '' The flat drifted under the bridge and then promptly sank in midstream . Ruby , Jane , and Diana , already awaiting it on the lower headland , saw it disappear before their very eyes and had not a doubt but that Anne had gone down with it . For a moment they stood still , white as sheets , frozen with horror at the tragedy ; then , shrieking at the tops of their voices , they started on a frantic run up through the woods , never pausing as they crossed the main road to glance the way of the bridge . Anne , clinging desperately to her precarious foothold , saw their flying forms and heard their shrieks . Help would soon come , but meanwhile her position was a very uncomfortable one . The minutes passed by , each seeming an hour to the unfortunate lily maid . Why did n't somebody come ? Where had the girls gone ? Suppose they had fainted , one and all ! Suppose nobody ever came ! Suppose she grew so tired and cramped that she could hold on no longer ! Anne looked at the wicked green depths below her , wavering with long , oily shadows , and shivered . Her imagination began to suggest all manner of gruesome possibilities to her .
Then , just as she thought she really could not endure the ache XXXXX her arms and wrists another moment , Gilbert Blythe came rowing under the bridge in Harmon Andrews 's dory !
about as at before below by for in into of