The west shore., August 01, 1885, Page 240, Image 14

' 240
'THE WEST SHORE.
had and do not want that it was quite enough to wake
i mA dislike him. ' ' ' . i ' :
However, a sunny morning iu the holidays in a ehoer-
iui wing, aim wnou I Btroiieu down Htream wim my roa
' I full I uuuSJ eujoy uiyitdf very nearly as muck as I Lad
Wore hia coming apoilnd our party. I had chosen the
lower rivor because Mr. Hernpnth usually fished the
upper part, and I would not m ruffled this nice day. So
1 wan tlm more vexed to oomo suddenly upon him fishing,
and fishing where lis had no right to ho. It wus a spot
where one hank rose into quite a cliff, frowning over a
deep pool at the foot of some falls. Close to the cliff the
water still ran with the speed of a mill race, so fast as to
endanger a gcxxl swimmer. But on the far Bide of this
current there was a bit of Black water which was tempt
ing enough to have sot ono's wits to work to devise moans
to fish it, which from tho top of the cliff was impossible.
Jllut kluiirn 4l.a Kutni. .unI. . fi .M t
- " nra n irHln, a 1UUI, WIUB, perilBpS,
! which might have done only it did not reach to this end
fit a' ...
01 mm ciiir. llowevor, some foolhardy person had espied
this, and got over the gap by bridging the latter with a
bit of plank, and then had drowned himself or gone
away, iu either case leaving his board to tempt others to
do likewUe, (
And there was Mr. Horapath fishing from the ledge.
It made me giddy to look at him. The rock overhung
the wator to much that he oould not stand upright
When I had walked a few yards, moaning to pass round
the rear of the cliff, I began to fancy all aorta of foolish
l.t ... 1.1 I i ii ..... ...
.go wuuhi nappen. i iuii sure that 1 should have no
more peace or pleasure if I left him there. I hesitated.
Yea, I would. I would go down and ask him to leave the
place, and, of course, he would do it
I lost no time, but ran down the slope smartly and
crol.aly. My way lay over loose shale mingled with
large stonca, and it was steep. It is wonderful how
quickly an accident hapiwiii. I waa ohecking myself
near the bottom, when a big stone on which I stepped
uiovod nnder me. The shale began to slip in a mass and
the aU.no to roll. It was all done in a moment Istayod
..,. . whjt ,MH.ngn, oui me stone took two
boumla, jumped sideways, struck the piece of board which
waa only resting lightly at either end, and before I could
. kfl it all in the little bridge plunged end first into the
current, which awept it out of Bight in an iustant
. He tW up his hands iu affright, for he had turned
and we both saw it happen. He made indeed aa if he
would try to aave it, but that was. iin1(osible; and then,
while I cowered in dismay, he wared hi. arm to me in
the direction of home-agaiu and again. The roar of the
t f T,mt 1,6 bul 1 n-aninK
I could not help him myself, but I oould fetch help, ft
wthree mile, to Brei.fcd.rn, rough, rocky one, and I
doubUd whether he could keep hu cramped pitfa.
wita Uiat nowe deafeuiuu hiiu. .! !, ..n...
.treau, before hi. eye while I wa. going and coming
But there u no betU way I oould think of; and even
as I wavered, he .igualod to me again imperatively
- -1 cannot Ml .tall how 1 did it; how I over
the uneven ground, or whether I went quickly or slowly,
save by the reckoning papa made afterwards. I can only
remember one long hurrying scramble;', now I. panted
uphill, now I ran down, now I was on my face in a hole,
breathless and half -stunned, and now 1. waa up to my
knees in water. I slipped and dropped down places I
should at other times have shrunk from, and. hurt myself
so that I bore the marks for" months. But I thought
nothing of these things:' all my being was spent' in hur
rying on for his life, the clamor of every cataract I
passed seeming to Btop my heart's beating with very fear.
So I reached Breistoleh, and panted over the bridge and
up to the little white house lying so quiet in the after
noon sunshine, papa's stool-car even then at the door
ready to take him to some favorite pool. Somehow I
made him understand in broken words that Herapath was
in danger, drowning already, for all I knew, and then I
seized a great pole whioh was leaning' against the porch,
and climbed into the car. ' Papa was not slow either; he
snatched a coil of rope from the luggage, and away we
went, a man and boy whom he had hastily called running
behind us. "We had lost very little time, but so much
may happen in so little time.
We were forced to leave the car a quarter of a mile
from that part of the river, and walk or run the rest of
the way. We all ran, even papa, as I had never known
him run before. : .My heart sank at ,the. groan he let
escape him when I pointed out the snot; - We nmn in it
one by one, and we all looked. The ledge was empty.
Jem Herapath was gone. J. suppose it startled me. At
any rate, I could only look at the water in a dazed way,
and cry quietly without much feeling that it was my
doing; while the men shouting to one another in strange,
hushed voices, searched about for any sign of his fate.
"Bab! Why, Miss Bab, what is the matter?"
8afe and sound! Yes. there he a t.an T t.nrnaA
, ..vrw .1 A
safe, and strong, and cool, rod in hand,.and a quiet smile
u u.0 By0B. uusi as i had seen him yesterday, and
thought never to see him
exactly as of old, so that something in my throat-it may
uu auger ai nis rudeness,-but I do not think it
was-prevented my saying a word until all the others
came round us, and a babel of Norse and English, and
something that was neither, yet both, set in.
" But how is this?" objected my father when he could
be heard, "you are quite dry, my boy?"
"Dry! Why not. air? Vnr .
the matter?"
" The matter! Didn't you fall in, or something of the
Hud? papa asked, bewildered by this new aspect of the
case. . r .
"It does not look like it rir M .xni Aautar
gave me a very uncomfortable start by nearly doing so."
Every one looked at him for an explanation, "How
d.d you manage to get from the ledge?" I .aid feebly.
"t I had to wa k H.i, 1 1L. . ... . .. . .
min.i t . . ,uuuu we nw. ami i ow noi