The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1897-06-02

Lucy drew back, but Hetty, leaving
her. pressed resolutely on. She caught
at the branches and exposed roots of the
underbrush, digging her heels and even
her fingers into the stony soil to avoid
falling. Some way, she never knew how,
she scrambled down to the end of the
path some hundred feet or so below.
Again she paused and reached her Ian
tern out in front of her. A black line
seemed to shoot out to the further bank
of the canon. 1t was the log of a great
tree, which had fallen down and lodged
there. Only for a moment did she hest
tate, and then Lucy imagined she could
see something moving, if, suspended
in mid air, out across the dark chasm
beneath her.
She did 1t was the desperate and al
most unconscious girl, who, holding her
lantern low so that she might see the
narrow pathway upon which her feet
would cross, plunged swiftly in the dark
ness-so dark just then that it appeared
almost providential interposition which
prevented ner from seeing the dizzy
depths beneath her.
Once she reeled and staggered and al
most lost her balance, but with her lips
set close together, and breathing a little
prayer in her heart she recovered and
sped on. A few steps more, and the
leaves of the bushes upon the opposite
side brushed against her face; and, trem-
bling and all but fainting, she grasped
the branches, and the next moment sank
down upon the soft ground safe but un-
nerved.
'"This will never do she said to her
self, 81 am needed. She needs me. I
must hurry for Johns sake Thus nerv-
ed she again grasped her lantern and
basket, and locating the place of the dis
aster by the sounds she heard, in a few
moments she had reached the scene.
Hello, there!' the coarse voice of the
driver greeted her. Hello, I say! Halt!
and tell your business. OH! he ex-
claimed a second later in tone of relief
''Well, how in the nation did you get
| here? You are just in the nick of time,
| though; especially if you've got any
| thing in that basket good for fainting
fits. The old lady has some bones broken,
I guess, and l began to be afraid I'd
never fetch her through until help
came.''
Hetty looked, and saw PROSTATE form
in feminine attire. The next moment she
was at her side, and bringing forth from
her basket the flask of wine which she
had thrust in, thinking restoratives
might be needed, she knelt and with
womanly tact ministered to the sufferer
who lay PROSTATE upon the drivers coat
For little while all her efforts seemed
| to be in vain. She chaffed her hands,
bathed her temples, moistened her lips
ment. At last, however as her heart be-
gan to sink, she noticed a slight move
ment of the eyelids, then there was a
| faint breathing, and presently she had
the joyful experience of witnessing the re-
turn to consciousness of one who had
been almost given up as among the dead
For the third time that evening her
nerves gave way, and she sank down,
| still holding the hand she had been rub
| bling between hers. She did not know
| how long she remained in this state but
| it was the music of strong manly
voice which brought her back to herself
| again.
THANK God! You are safe, mother"
| it exclaimed. eve hurried as fast as we
could-but' With a start ''who-why.
| Hetty, how came you here?''
Beats the nation" volunteered the
| driver, shifting his quid of tobacco from
| one cheek to the other. 'She must have
| flew, or else she did what no man in the
Gulch would have had the nerve to do