WKST S1I0RK.
:it)l
the iron resolve of a brave and almost desperate man,
he surveyed the chances. It was of no avail to trou
ble his mind about the possibilities of another land
slip. If that was to come, it must come; he could do
nothing, except for his own present sake to put it res
olutely out of his head. If he could keep his senses
about him and cling on to his rock, then help must
come in the morning. Even if he could not be seen
from the road above him, he must be seen by some one
on the opposite bank. If he were seen, rescue would
be easy. What he had to do was to keep his senses
and hold on.
Perhaps some reader would think that would bo
but an easy task. What ? To sit on a narrow pro
jection of rock during the whole of a long autumnal
night; to sit there with hardly any possibility of alter
ing one's position, with the knowledgo that any sud
den and unconsidered movement might plunge him
down into the whirlpool of the rapids; to sit there with
the roar of the falls all the time in his ears, sounding
like the roar of a wild beast, impatient to be let loose
on his victim in tho arena is that an easy task ?
Hugh RavelBton did not find it so, and ho was a bravo
and a strong man, clinging to life with nil the passion
ate force of one for whom life is only beginning, and
beginning in hope and happiness. He found it terri
bly hard work to keep in tho same position. Every
wind that swept across him seemed as if it must sweep
him away. He could feel each breeze coming, and his
heart stood still with terror until it had passed. Some
times the roar of tho fall was louder than before, and
in his wild fancy ho imagined that tho fall itself was
about to break over him. He looked up to the appall
ing deeps of the sky and ho shuddered as at something
spectral. The night became peopled with illusions for
him. Phantoms seemed to float past him and to gib
ber and mock at him. A wild bird once or twice
throbbed past him, and Hugh almost started from his
neat in nervous terror. The shock, however, brought
reaction with it. It warned him that his nerves were
going, and that he must do something to remain mas
ter of his senses. There was nervous terror in the
very loneliness, in tho vast sky, in the white, ghostly
foam of the falls, in the unpitying eyes of the stars.
If he allowed tho terrors of these influences to grow
upon him he was lost. An odd idea occurred to him.
He U'gan to roar out comic songs. He tried to think
f half-forgotten old choruses that he had known in
his college days, and ho chanted them over and over
again. They banished the ghosts, anyhow. No see.
tre would care to compromise his mournful dignity by
coming near a man who was roaring out a comic cho
run from a London burlesque. The Horseshoe full
bad probably never before been treated to selections from
the "Forty Thievn" or " Faust t'p To Date." Hut
tho Horseshoe full did not listen; it kept on its own,
monotonous, everlasting music.
Then he made sjiooehos. He addressed " My Lord
and (ientlemen of tho Jury " many times, in defense
of various prisoners. Then ho struck into olitic and
harangued various public meetings. He was a candi
date for some division of a county, and ho denounced
the opposite party. Then he was in the 1 louse of Com
mons and was addresing Mr. Speaker. Theso perform
ances, absurd as they may seem, kept the poor young
man's mind off tho horror of his osition. They gave
him something to do, they suppressed or banished tho
tragic feeling of the situation. A new danger now be
gan to threaten. The night was growing cold, very
cold. His limbs began to feel chilled. Ho ventured
bo far as to stretch down one hand and chafe his legs.
He kept on at this work - ami it was perilous work too,
for an awkward motion might shake him off. Hut he
knew well enough that if be were to stiffen with tho
cold his last hope was gone. He begnn to train him
self, if it may bo expressed so, to tho work of moving
hands ami feet quickly, but safely, about. All this oc
cupied and distracted him. How slowly the time
dragged along I It seemed to him as if ho had boon
ages on that rock, and there was no gleam of dawn yet
in tho skies.
Now ho Wgan to grow exhausted and sleepy. It
seemed to him as if he eould not drive away or con
(jucr tho insane longing to close his eyes and sleep.
Some hideous temptation appeared to come over him,
telling him that it would only be a few moments of
sleep, nothing more, and that he would bo much the
belter for it. Ho bud to keep calling on the name of
Marie, as if it wero a charm to givo him strength to re
sist the temptation. I lo dared not close his eyes, lest
tho struggle against sleep should be over for A mo
ment; for he well knew that one Instant of sleep meant
death. He kept his mind fixed on Mario and on his
hoK) yet to escape and see her again, ami It touched
and mM.tti.Hl him to think that, by thus enabling him
to keep awake and watchful, she herself was aiding in
the rescue. Oh, the pain of the monotonous position I
Oh, tho sense of relief, tho sense of almost joy, when
by some slight and cautious movement he was able to
shia the H.sture of bis limbs ever so little ! Then it
came on to rain, ami he was drenched, and, strange to
say, he liked it; ho found it refreshing, it was a change,
it sent a new sensation through his jaded frame. Hut
tho time was wearing him out; he feared at any mo
mcnt that ho was going to faint, and he prayed, oh, so
fervently and passionately, that ho might lw allowed
strength enough not to faint, for tho sake of th who
loved him and whom ho loved. Ho prayed with closed
.yes now, for ho felt that while thus praying ho could
defy sleep or swoon. Kcliovod, encouraged, strength-