The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-11-05

This caused renewed laughter, for
Milly had not conducted herself at all
bravely during the three or four severe
thunder-stOrms which had crashed and
flashed about Rollester's since our ar
rival. But there was no storm that
day; the sky continued prOpitiousIy
blue, and after our meal we scattered
here and there, juveniles and adults,
agreeing that q peal from the horn
carried by one of our drivers should
summon us all to the spot where the
wagons waited.
Agnes, and many others of the boys
and girls, wandered off with me. 1t
was not long before we came to a part
of the Glove still lovelier than any we
had yet seen. l felt regret, when its
beauty burst upon me, after a little
turn in our rock path, that mother had
not accompanied me, so that she too
might enjoy it. / am afraid that l for
got also to wish for Milly, and l now
record this with a certain shame. The
stream had drifted upon one of its
level spaces, and hence was quite still;
you could hear it roar and plash lit
tie beyond, behind screens of the SOM
Der fr-trees. But here it had made
dark pool just at the hollow base of
natural Crotto. The shore of this pool
was Of Whitest sand, and looked shOal
enough for several feet at least, show
| ing the yellow pebbles for that dis
| lance, below the clear surface of the
water. But as / lifted my eyes, / saw
| that a tree had fallen across parallel
with the darker part of the pool itself.
from one of the earthly lodges that
| flanked it. The boughs of the tree,
| however, had caught against the
! Jagged stone which made the ceiling
= - Il H.
4 still green, showing that the half
rooted tree lived, though poised slant
wise Gas it may have been for years.
over the calm, gloomy tide.
An idea seized one of the children to
| take off shoes and stockings and wade
into the pool. 1t proved a very pOpu-
| lar idea-dOubtless because there was
| a spice of recognized mischief in it. l
/ confess that / opposed it rather feebly,
| and soon began to ask myself what,
| after all, would be the harm in such
moist little frOlic. But it was not till
| saw Willie Winkie with his knee
breeches cunningly rolled up and
| grasped in his two pretty white hands,
| that / realized that the little fellow had
| followed us in orr stroll.
Being nearly the oldest boy there,
felt thrill of responsibility for this,
the youngest. put my hand about his
shoulders as he dauntlessly waded into
the fresh, cold stream at my side. But
he gave an obstinate little shrug, re-
| senting this projections; and presently.
in the general hey-dey and high-spirited
CHATTER that ensued. I forgot the little
fellow altogether.
Suddenly a wild cry rang out from
Ida Snowe. 1t silenced us all, that
cry, in an instant. 1t was like the
gloom of death striking sharply, with
out a hint of omen, straight into the
bright heart of sunny life itself. We
all stared whittier her hand pointed.
''Look! lookr' she shouted. t''lts
Willy-Willy Wrinkle! He's-he' S
gone too far! He's drowning!"
1t was terribly true. The bank must
have shelved with fearful steepness,
and some sort OF treaeherous circular
current, silent and deadly, had carried
the poor child off into the dusk waters
beyond. Both his arms were raised. I
can see his piteous little white face I'M
der his flossy golden hair now, as it
fell backward in the agony of his woe
full peril! / tore off my coat. Two or
three of the larger boys did the same.
None of us could swim, but there is a
kind of call, at times like these, that
rings right through the soul of the
| SLLOu2tL ll4C WITCH 1T oCCS Vic WGdhACL
life perishing. / don't know what
would have happened. I don't know
| which of us would have struck out
first. 1t would have been death to
more than one of us, l think, if the
thing that did happen had not hap
pened.
But now we all drew back, thrilled by
one impulse, one feeling. For along
the fallen tree (Which was just above
WHY'S sinking form, yet, an, so pite-
Ously far from it) hurried a slender,
swift, girlish shape.
Its Milly!' cried some body. And
then we all waited, with a kind of awe.
We were too far away from her to
help her; we all realized that. She had,
by some chance, been up on the turfv
mound near the gnarled and bedded
roots of the tree. She had seen; she
had acted, without an instant of hest
tation. And she did act now, with a
speed and self-cOmmand that made all
our hearts swell in our breasts as we
watched her. She was clinging to the
tree just above the spot where Willy
was struggling. Between herself and
Willy were four good feet-scarcely
more. But unless some thing could
bridge those four feet death to the
drowning boy was certain. It seemed
to us, for a second or two, as if her fin
gers were wrestling with some ugly
! prong of the tree that had stopped her
, course. Then we saw that she had been
knotting the end Of a cord there; and
5 then, as the cord itself was flung down
, ward, we realized that it was MiIly's
I skipping-rOpe.
7 "Catch the end, Willy" we heard
, her cry to the sinking boy whom she
, had always loved so fondly. "It will
= hold you-rm sure it will! There
{ have YOU got it? Hold fast! 1t won't
l break. The other end is up here with
me- l won't let it loose! Hold fast
l nOw-that's right
, And then, as the little seven-year-old
: shape clung to a rope stout enough tC
! have held it for hours, Milly turned
her white face towards Us and cried, il
: such different voice-sO full of sharp
ordering briskness:
Il ''Run, boys, for one of the drivers
n It will be all right till some one get;
y here who can swim!'
+, l darted away, and four or five of thC
o boys after me. Perhaps six minutes
: had elapsed between the time thai
h Willy first clutched the wooden handle
/ of Milly's skipping-rope and the time
5 that Reuben Haires, stout, broad
Y shOuldered lad who could swim per
fectly, had caught the child in his arms
1 and landed him, with hardly an effort
Q on the near bank.
; OF course Milly was a heroine after
I, that. Leila Lindsay flung both arm!
h about her neck and sobbed for pardon
@ on her shoulder. / gave her kind o
G brotherly hug, feeling dismally EN-
:. barrassed rs / did so. As for mother
i she just took the frail form of her deal
o one in her arms and held it there for
T minute or two; and then, during al
i the rest of that afternoon, her eye