The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-09-29


able in time to help her There w;s not per
son within call She must save, or he would
die. John die? The thought revealed her
heart us she had never seen il in her passive hap
piness.
In moment the head OF the drowning man
appeared above the surface.
Put your hands on my shoulders" She said
quickly but firmly. " | can take you ashore"
What should have been a touch-a light
pressure for support-bccame Il trenzied grasp
under the peril and desperation Of the moment
and John bore her down with him in ten feet
of water As she had been superior to hystcr-
les above, she was storngcr than despair below.
! His hold relaxed rs he touched bottom, and
tearing herself from his loosened grasp, Grace
seized him by the hair and bore him out olthc
grave for another chance 1T life.
Seeing at il glance that while John was I'M
able to avail himself of her help, he was still
dangerous to face, she dived quickly, caught
him by the heel and dragged him through the
water to the beach.
How she did it she never knew, but she took
the dead weight Of his limp body in her arms
and ran with it to the dry sand, as mother
might run from peril with her babe
| As she turned his face 10 the moonlight ii
was STILL and white and dead. A great fear
smote her heart, but there was no time for de
lay, and love was stronger than despair, y
flash of recollection from her reading came to
her help. Putting her finger deity into his
mouth she pulled down his tongue. Swiftly
turning his head down the sloping beach, she
rocked him back and forth, pressing his sides
and chest. Almost instantly the salt water ran
gurgling from hismouth, and a gasping breath
showed that John was saved.
A man needs to be very thoroughly in love
to sense things thus, under the circumstances ;
but as John felt the pressure or the soft hands
upon him, and saw the sweet, anxious face so
near his own, and heard the inarticulate muir
muir of mingled endearment, fear and gladness,
he did remember of reading how delightful
drowning is, after the struggle is over!
1t would be pleasant, and quite the usual
thing to say that John caught his fair rescucr
to his bosom, and then and there asked her to
take the life she had saved while Grace com
pleted the tableau by faintins. But nothing
of the sort happened In the first place John
hadn't life enough in him for such an exercise,
and Grace wasn't that kind of girl. What
she did was to run to Il hotel and send men and
IA doctor, to bring him up in chair, and then
walk home by herself, take hot drink and go
to bed-where she woke up with start and Il
cry every hour through the night, to sink to
troubled sleep again after thanking God that
dear John was saved.
When they met again, three days afterwards,
Johns bearing was changed. His eyes, ana
his voice, too were full OF tears, but his man
ner seemed constrained He had the reserved
defcrential air which ooryounga rtist might
assume toward a king patron He took the
hand that had saved him and kissed it several
times, saying brokenly; - cannot thank you
otherwise"
Grace was sobcred, likewise, and could not
speak the right reply she had framed in adj
vance They had been face to face with death,
and such an experience widens the horizon OF
thoughtful souls immeasurably-- rs
much ms looking out over the open grave OF
one we love, into the infinite spaces When
they were together his look followed her every
where, and with an intensity and abstraction
new to hin-with n longing that was pathetic
in its apparent dumb helplessness.
Grace knew she loved him; she felt that his
heart was hers utterly and yet he was drift
ing away from her was it his pride that kept
him from asking the supremest gdt from one
to whom he already owed so much? Or was
il a kindred teeling-a mistaken mannish sen
tment that its victim thinks to be chivalry?
Grace did not know, but she set to work upon
the problem that wonderful combination of
will and automatism which we call brain, and
write learnedly about but understand so little.
In the deepest night, in the busiest day-while
we sOundly sleep or are absorbed in other things
the mental machinery is at work, unconscious
ly to us, on the puzzle that had batfied thought.
And lo!--some day of days, some instant Of
time when we waken, or sit in the car, or stop
in the midst of our tOil-tlaSh comes the sOlu-
ton
The friends were together again for the last
time on the dear old rocks by the sea The
season was over and John was going back to
4 1 a Ia. l..l- ...
so truly friends that they could be content in
long slenccs when in each others presence in
the woods or by the shore. One can make a
shift to talk with almost everybody; but it is a
kindred soul with whom one enjoys and shares
the charm of blessed silence. For an hour
they sat, scarcely speaking their memories
touching fondly and regrettully upon the scenes
so soon to be left behind.
"The poet chose we'll" said John at last a." it
is the cruel, crawling sea- | can but think
after ALL that the mountains, lakes and woods
are better Ii seems more than ever like primal
work--so crude and desOlate, 50 treacherous
and destructive, that it is easy to imagine the
pleasure with which beauty-loying Creator
turned from this TO the earth and adorned it"
"Ah! yes" unused Grace in her turn, but
the sea is more kind than fate. Ii is less Ca
PRECIOUS than man. 1t is changetul yet ever the
same, ike woman. III casts up treasures as
truly as it engulfs them, 1t kisses the shore,
you know, yet it smites it. ltretlects the color
of the skes--would that man could do it as
faithfully 1t seems to me often an imperfect
yet striking symbol of human life. | have
even known cases of resurrection out of its
DEATH" she added significantly, with IA glance
at the scene of Johns rescue; but they say"
continued the girl abruptly THAT even in the
face of the great fact ofdeathless love and the law
of renewed life, some people won't believe in
immortality! As if love could go out like a
candler
John looked dazcd, but made no answer
Even these leading strings thrown out to him
these doors of opportunity swung open be-
fore his very feet-his false pride and selfish
sensitiveneSs kept him from using.
He started from his feet with sigh that was
almost groan, and looked as though he would
jump oil the rock
You don't mean it," exclaimed Grace with
III l.,.