Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-04-12

river and instead of going down
sloping bank, as | expected my bron-
chos took n sudden plunge and We're
swimming for dear life. The buggy,
which floated like cork, was swirling
down stream, and turning their heads
TO the westward, or up the stream,
and they had all they could do to
keep from being washed down by the
force of the current against the dash.
board. But they made it after
great deal of putting and snorting, and
l shouted jolly 'hurrah' as they
landed on a bank of quicksand, about
third of the way across. drove
them around a bit on the quicksand-
had to keep them moving, you know
until they got their second wind, then
started for the second pole, | mean
stretch, of deep water. They plunged
in and were getting along swimming
ly-no pun intended, l assure you
when suddenly l was startled by a
woman's scream.
Looking up the river | saw boat
NONua NNlit sOlhNhON
bent for election-you know the say
ing-and swirling around in the rapid
current until it made me think / had
regular New Years jag. Then l no
ticed there were no oars and looking
around | saw them floating calmly
down stream on another swell of the
current. Finally it struck me that |
hadn't looked for the woman, but
there she was hanging on the sides of
the boat for everything she was
worth and just then she gave another
veil. This time it was because she
saw, as did then, that the boat was
being whirled right towards one of
the protruding pilings of the busted
bridge, and it would not be two sec
onds before it would strike.
Honor bright now, | never thought
for a minute of the danger that might
come to me from being alone on the
wide sea of the Platte with woman,
and young one at that, or of compli
cations which might arise in case
some one should hear of it. But / just
grabbed the lines, as though they
were reeling off from a life-gun and
ierked the heads of the bronchos up
stream and towards another quick
sand bar that cleaned above the wa
ter. But before / got anywhere near
her the crash came and the boat
keeled over, throwing the miss into
the water. She went down with
splash, and / stripped off my coat.
kicked off my shoes and into the VIII.
ter jumped.
81 tell you it was hard picking push
ing my way up against that current,
but did il somehow and grabbed her
arm us she came up and flying down
at me.
THAT girl had common sense. Never
struggled a bit, but as soon as she
realized she had assistance, just put
her arm around my neck and rested
her weight on my back so I could
swim free without any hampering,
though l did get mixed with her
skirts once or twice.
"The current swept us towards the
quicksand bar, and by final big eff
fort l pushed in far enough to get
my feet on the sands. Then | got
them off again because it was quick
sand. But she had recovered her
breath by that time. and its first
normal emission brought with it in
the sweetest voice / ever heard: oh,
sir, | thank you, thank you, thank
you, and / actually felt her arm
tighten around my neck as she
stepped along at the 'double-quick'
time ! was using to keep my feet out
of the sand, and we hustled along to
where the ponies were turning around
and around, as though their horse
sense told them they had to keep
moving or go under.
81 helped her into the buggy and
then climbed in myself and started up
the bronchos to make the third and
last swim for the north shore. Now
this was not such bad lift as we had
before, but some way or other | man
| aged to make it seem worse. for when
| got her into the buggy | saw she
was as pretty little country girl as
ever eyes looked upon. Her cheeks,
which had been slightly pale from
the fright she received, had become
rosy and soft as the bloom of peach.
and / tell you, ached for a taste OF
their sweetness. She had eyes Of a
deeper blue than Italian skies ever
produced, and they laughed until the
sun hid itself in shame for its COM
parative lack of brightness. Brown
hair, now wet with the Plates tears,
curled all about her temples and hung
in clusters at the back of her neck.
Her form was as round and pump as
ever a Venus possessed, and | just
| couldn't help it. I wilted. My arm
stole around her waist and the squeeze
gave her, under pretense that the
| buggy was about to overturn. made
her gasp, but she seemed to like it,.
Anyway, she did not resist, and then
when. by a judicious tugging at the
1 I. L