The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-08-09


heard a man pant, as he ran. "She got
into n boat higher up shore to fish some
thing up that had Coated out of the cellar,
the bont swung loose rom its moorings,
and the currents carrying her down
stream. She'll go over the falls. There's
no chance for her.
On the bridge there were 40 or 80 people,
some running dstractedly hithcr and
thither, others helplessly standing at tho
rail, looking up the river. Dick pushed
his way among the latter and looked too
Not 100 yards away, borne on the current.
was an upturncd boat, with "a little figure
clinging desperately to the keel. Dick
could see her white, frightened face and
hear her frenzied cries for l.lp. There
were people on the river banks running to
keep pace with the swiftly moving boat
and shouting useless directions to the poor
creature clinging to 1t. A woman behind
Dick was struggling to get to the rail
"Oh, don't, Mrs. Seymour-don't let us
go there. We can't do any good. Come
away, do said voice that he recognized
/ as Ellen's.
But must, Hiss Ellen. l have feel
ing somehow that it's N.Y. She had
reached the rail and stood by Dick For
a moment she gazed with blanched face
and drawn, white lips, then in voice
whose agony pierced to the very souls of
those who heard it she cried:
"Merciful God It's my Jennie, my girl
my girl'
! The girl on the boat heard the cry and
answered it with a shrek of Mother!
Motherl"
On came the boat, sometimes caught in
On eddy and whirled about until the poor
! girl, who chung to it for dear life, grew
dizzy and well nigh lost her hold, then
swept away again, steadily, surely, down
to the rapids. And the. people oil the
bridge and on the river banks waited dazed
and helpless.
IA rope-if we had a rope" said Dick
hoarsely to the men near him. "There' S
! just chance that she might be able to
catch it as she went under the bridge, and
we could draw her up"
Poor garrul, she couldn't get old of
1t with 'er numb 'ands, replied one man.
Dick looked intently down into the
black depths of the water. He was think
ing that once, when he was boy and the
river low, he had jumped off the bridge
and swan to the boom, dared to the feat
by some reckless companions. Could he
A sudden crash-a stifled cry--an ex-
clamation of horror from the crowd. The
boat had swept against the boom. II
grated on it for an instant, then the keel
went down, and the boat righted and float
ed on. For moment the girl disappeared
The next, they saw her clinging desperate
ly to the boom, her drenched black hail
hanging over her wild face.
Dick had pulled off his coat and shoes
by this time and was standing on the
bridge rail
Fetch rope, Bill" he said to the mar
next him, "long enough to reach from
here to the boom. Run for your life and fol
mine aid for that poor creature s yonder. ,
Then his wiry little body shot out into
space, woman on the bridge called hi.
name; after that there was breathless 81
lence. AS Dick rose to the surface, n few
yards from where the girl chung, u wilt
shout rang out from the crowd.
Would the current bear him down OF
could he stem it? For awhile the chances
seemed equal, then he began very slowl,
to gain upon it, But the girls hold wa
evidently relaxing, and she was beins
drawn away from the boom. He saw tbi
and strained every nerve in his sinew.
body in last mighty effort. A little near
er and a little nearer, until, painting ant
exhausted, he grasped the boom and, fling
ing his arm about the girl drew her to
ward it. And there they hung, the curren
Juggling and tearing at their two bodies.
'If that rope doesn't come soon, 1t will
be precious little use, " thought Dick, DIES
,, perately tightening his hold on the nov
unconscious girl.
He glanced at the bridge and the eager
/, frightened faces looking down at him
One face he saw, above all others. 1t wa
Z Il at,i- LOU
were fixed upon his own.
"Diok, dear Dick, brave Dick" she sal
in low voice, "hold on a moment more
/, the rope is here
And Dick gazed at her as in a dream,
half smile on his lips, and tried to gras
the boom more firmly with his numbn
fingers.
Exactly how he caught and tied tn
rope under the girls shoulders he nevs
, knew, but he saw her drawn safely up o
/, , the bridge with sigh of intense relic
1t seemed an age before the rope was i
his hands again, but he was conscious
slipping the loop around his body, of cling
ing to 1t with viselike grasp, of bein
: hauled through the water for a little spac
of being lifted into the air, of wild shou
I; of women's face bending over him al
= then-a blank.
= Next time Dick took Ellen home frol
choir rehearsal, which happened the 70
y lowing evening, he caught the hand ST
extended to him at her own gate, and hel
. it as II he did not mean to let 1t go.
. "And you really cared, Ellen" said b
land would have grieved little II hs
gone over the fallsS" And though the
). was no moon 1t was quite light enoui
= for Ellen to see that his eyes were bri
. full of love and longing.
i, eyes, dear Dick, I really cared, I thir
u ! I should have died II you had be-
/ drowned" And eInboldened by her loo
y and tone, Dick took her in his arms al
u kissed her. - Frances A. Schneider
u Denver Republican.