Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-05-09

the door. the water then catching me
close to the shoulders.
"Jumpr ordered. holding out my
arms.
Il can't; I'm afraid she said.
do as tell your | roared Jump
at once." AS / caught her weight with
my arms under hers she was for the
moment almost immersed. but stag
gered backward and managed to hold
my footing till Auberry's arms reached
us from the snag. up which we clam
bered. the girl dripping wet and CATCH
ing her breath In terror.
We had Travelled perhaps three-quar-
| ters of mile when ] noticed the dim
loom of trees on our side Of the
stream and saw that we were ap-
| preaching long point which ran out
below us. This should have been the
deep side of the river. but no one can
account for the yagaries of the Nilsson
ri. When we were within hundred
yards or so of the point we felt a long
shuddering scrape under us, and after
series of slips and jerks our old snag
came to anchor again, its roots having
once more laid hold upon bar. 1t
occurred to me that as had been able
to touch bottom on the other bar
might do so here. crawled back along
| the trunk of the snag to a place as
| near the roots as could reach and,
letting myself down gently, found
that could keep my footing on the
sand.
Little by little edged up the stream
and found that the water shoaled to-
ward the heap of driftwood. 1t drop
ped off. | know not how deep, between
the edge of the bar and the piled drift;
| but, standing no more than waist deep.
could reach the outer limbs Of the
drift and saw that they would support
my weight After that ! waded back
to the snag carefully and once more
ordered the young woman to come to
me-
She came back along the naked and
slippery trunk of the snag, pulling her
self along by her hands. her bare feet
and limbs deep in the water alongside.
SOulu ACdi tdC oOO VI AiCA 4uItthS1A
breath and saw that she trembled in
! fright. and. more dead than alive, 1t
seemed to me. she fell once more into
my arms. felt her grasp tighten
about my neck and her firm body
crowd against me as we both sank
down for an instant. Then I caught
my feet and Strengthened and was real
ly the steadier for the added weight. as
any one knows who has waded in fast
water.
"Get up. Auberry." said to him as
he approached and motioned to the
long, overhanging branches from the
driftwood. He swung up. breaking off
the more insecure boughs, and was of
the belief that we could get across in
| that way. AS he reached down l
swung the young woman up to him.
and she clambered on as best she
could. Thus, / scarce know how, we
all managed to reach the solid drift
and SO presently found ourselves
ashore on a narrow sandy beach hedged
on the back by heavy growth Of
willows.
"Now then, you men," ordered Mandy
McGovern. '.get some wood out and
start fire right away. This here girl
is shaking the teeth plumb out'n her
head" Mandy drew forth two TASKS,
each stoppered with bit of corncob.
The one held sulphur matches, thus
| kept quite dry. and this she passed to
| me. The other she handed to the
young woman.
Here" said she. take drink of
that. It'll do you good"
/ heard the girl gasp and choke as
she obeyed this Injunction, and then
Mandy applied the bottle gurglingly to
! her own lips.
| Presently we had roaring blaze
started, and Mandy, seating herself
comfortably upon log and producing
corncob pipe and quantity Of nat
ural leaf tobacco. proceeded to enjoy
herself in her own fashion. This
here's all right" she remarked. I'VE
might be heap worse off'n we air"
could not help plying the young
| woman who crouched near her at the
| fireside, still shivering. She seemed SO
young and helpless and so out Of place
! in such surroundings, The freight
showed Id silhouette the outlines Of
| her face. 1t seemed to me had never
seen one more beautiful. Perhaps she
felt my gaze. for presently she turned
and said: Indeed 1t might be worse.
I thank you SO much. It was very
brave of you
We had waited perhaps not over an
hoGr. undecided what to do, when Au-
berry raised hand. Listen" he
said. There's boat coming" and
presently we all heard the splash of
oars Our fire had been seen by one of
| the boats of the River Belle. out pick
ing up such stragglers as could be
found So our little bivouac on the
beach came to an end.
did not get the name of the girl