Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-03-09

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do not know what the bull thought ,
this touching scene. l can only say tina
In my battered condition, a less vigorou
cudSeling with epithets would have bee
more to my taste. But Miss Spinks woul
not be checked. She continued to wr;n
her hands and to torture her own rocabu
larry, and | felt it mercy that she did no
think it necessary to faint as relief to he
overcharged feelings. Fortunately adora
ton, even at the hands of the fair sex
is luxury apt to pail on both the adore,
and adorer. After a time her transport
moderated, and | was enabled to suggest
fresh start. But here d new difficulty pre-
sented itself. Miss Spinks declared hersel
quite too nervous to think of crossing til,
plank.
/ allow it did not look inviting. Oul
bank was about six feet above the stream
the other almost level with the water,
edge. The plank, therefore, sloped pretty
sharply from our side. 1t had no hand
rail, and indeed was only intended to give
access to the bulls quarters from farm
house couple of hundred yards off, be-
beyond the streem. Moreover, it was
damp, messy, and therefore slippery; and
being about thirty feet long, had an IN.
pleasant spring motion under foot. How.
ever, it was the only exit, so | boldly adj
yanced three or four steps to convince Miss
Spinks of its safety, but she would not be
comforted.
sCh, dear, Mr.. HASTE, pray don't trust
your life to that plank /. You'll fall off
and be drowned, and then what shall !
do?"
Nonsense l replied, reassuringly
g The plank is quite sound. You need
only be steady, and walk slowly, to be per.
fectly safe"
al can't do it! l won't attempt it,
she cried.
Then would you prefer to race the bull
again." asked, impatiently.
"Oh, don't tease mel Don't be unkind
Do tell me what to dow
Let me help you," said |. "Take my
hand and step carefully
She took two short steps; the plank vi
brated under our combined weight, and
loosing her hold she returned to the shore.
Il dare MT do it that wav," she said.
81 must go Sideways
Whatever way you like" | assented,
tuu StNiIS llCl NY iiSut lidiiQ sue tOOh IL
in her right, and we started, inelegantly
shutting, crab-fashion along the plank
Still we were progressing. and appearances
did not matter. Half the distance was ac-
complished, and l was already congratu-
lating myself on the conquest of my final
difficulty, when, horrible dictu, that ac-
cursed bull, baked of his prey, raised his
voice in one last prodigious below.
Miss Spinks gave a heart-rending screech
and a violent start, which communicated
itself to the arm by which / was support
ing her. felt myself wobbling, swaying,
slipping; made superhuman effort to
recover my balance, overdid it, and turned
a back somersault into the depths be-
meath.
Gasping, blinded and half choked by
my sudden immersion, | rose to the sur
face, felt ground under my feet, and was
struggling into an upright position, when
low vision of whirling arms sensation
of heavy body rushing through the air,
a crash which showed me countless con-
stellations. was seized firmly by the
hair, enveloped in bewildering cloud of
drapery, suddenly and violently reim-
mersed, and Miss Spinks and l were
locked in deadly grapple in the bed of
the stream. Luckily the depth was not
great, and in a moment or two ] regained
my footing. Miss Spinks, still clutching
my locks, was dragged up with me, and
being unable to detach her hold, l was
forced to carry her ashore.
Restored to terra t,naa, she relaxed her
grip, and sinking down on the bank, with
a smile of ineffable satisfaction she MUIR
INJURED:
sob, thank heaven, l have saved you p
You have done what ?" | cried, mad
dened by The pain in my scalp and the
unnecessary ducking had undergone.
"Saved your lifew she repeated ecstati-
cally. 81 saw you were drowning, and
flew to your rescue. If l had not caught
your hair as you sank, you would have
been-oh-h-h p
could not laugh, or even speak. l
merely stared blankly at the dripping
Naiad, and feebly wondered which of us
was insane. She had closed her eyes, and
lay smiling sweetly to herself, oblivious of
everything but her heroism. The situa-
ton was romantic. but not practical and
much as it grieved me to break the spell, /
was forced at last to suggest, prosaically,
that we were catching cold.
She languidly opened her eyes, and
again smiling, remarked
Mr.. HASTE, Pm going to faintw and
did so.
If at this juncture was betrayed into
an supplementary expression, it was
surely a case in which Uncle Toby's re-
cording angel should spare tear. help
lessly felt for the place where my coat
pocket, and in it my flask, should have
been, but the bull had omitted to return
my property, and even for Miss Spinks'
sake was not prepared to encounter him
again. had no burnt feathers, and the
coId-water cure in my patients present
condition would have been locals to New
castle" There was nothing for it but to
carry the senseless form of my companion
to the farmhouse, distance of quite two
hundred yards, and there beg assistance.
Now, where in a novel or picture the
hero "bears the inanimate fair one ten
DERBY in his arms, her head resting on his
shoulder, her golden hair brushing his
cheek" he seems to do it with consum-
mate ease, and even to find pleasure in the
task. But experience tells me that such
descriptions are highly-colored fantasy.
There are few things less easy of trans
portation than healthy, vigorous maiden,
even when she is a consenting party, and
when one is SO affected toward her that
the merest touch gives thrill of pleasure
to the nerves. But the difficulty is infin-
itely magnifed when the maiden is mere
lightweight, is on the shady side of thirty,
has tendency to bones, and is habited in
dark, clinging raiment, which exudes
water like sponge. No matter how l
took up Miss Spinks, she showed most en-
barrassing symptoms of folding up. If
clasped her waist, her head and hands at
once became entangled with her feet. If
passed my arms under her recumbent
form, her limp extremities caused the
weighty body to slip between its supports,
and she returned to mother earth. Final
ly happy solution occurred to me.
hung her head and arms over my left
shoulder, embraced her knees, and so, at
the risk of asphyxiating her. set off at a
double for the farmhouse.
But the pace was too good to last. The
trot became walk, and the walk degen-
Grated into a stagger, and at last, fifty
yards from the gate, | had just strength
to lay down my burden and subside. AT
this instant the garden gate opened, and
a stout, elderly female appeared on the
scene. / shouted. She turned and took
IN fha ,,,,r,,orf IF INV ANIMAL and hastepa1