Year: 1875

| OIH6T slue again, anu SUI do SOOu de
possible.


confess it began to wear the as
pect of a chase to me, and appealed
to my taste for hunting. Then,
suppose, beauty such as hers, seen
through a glass, had an effect of
nearness upon me. At all events, ]
began to take keen interest in the
passion of my friend. When we
reached the other side all trace of the
fair fugitive was lost. All we could
do was to travel about the continent
in the hope of encountering her or
hearing about her party. One fine
autumn morning we fingered on the
heights of a mountain resort in Sax
Ony. We leaned over the railing that
encloses the plateau on the top of
the mountain, and looked admiring-
ly down on the stretch of country
beneath. Upon the river Elbe, that
looked to our American eyes like a
little trout stream, we saw one of
those little Dutch steamers that con-
tinually paddle up and down, and
suddenly the view became intensely
interesting. l looked through the
glass again; yes, there she was, with
out doubt, more graceful and en-
chanting than ever, upon the deck of
that numbering little tug, fathoms
below us. l called to Phil. He bent,
he looked, and stretching over with
yearning, unsteady movement, he
lost his balance and fell! Fell down
the sheer edge of the rock, grasping
as he went at every tuft of lichen
and grass, at every shrub that rapid
ly shot out of his reach. watched
him with agonizing suspense, when
suddenly his coat caught upon the
jagged walls of the precipice and
held him suspended over the chasm
beneath. He was partly supported
by frail ledge beneath him; and to
this bit of rock l was determined to
descend if in the endeavor l lost my
life. There was no other way of saw
ing Phil-none whatever; it must be
done Immediately; and he who has
risked his life in mad encounters with
savage beasts can well afford to do
so in behalf of the friend of his soul.
Around me fiocked a crowd of sturdy
Germans, anxious to help me in every
possible way. A stout rope was
brought, fastened firmly about my
waist, and 1 was lowered, hair
breadth at a time, by my honest
friends above. At last my foot trem-
bled upon the thin piece of slate up
on which Pill rested. Grasping the
rope with one hand, 1 disengaged his
unconscious form from its per1lous
resting place, slipped slowly into the
position he had taken, and binding
the rope about my poor Phil, Ihad
the Joy to see him finally lifted into
the arms of my comrades above.


Loud shouts arose from the pla-
teau and were echoed from the little
steamer below, from the deck of
which my perilous undertaking had
been watched with intense interest.
With difficulty 1 succeeded in keep
ing my hold upon this ledge of the
precipice until the rope came back
to me, and when ! bound it about
my waist l had already experienced
that fatal dizziness that precedes un-
consciousness. Reaching the top, l
escaped the embraces of my Teuton-
ic friends, and made my way to the
chamber in the hostlery where they
had taken Phil. A doctor was al
ready with him, and declared that
although no bones were broken, his
system had received a nervous shock
and that he would need careful nurs-
ing. So | took my place by the side
of Phil, and nursed him in Germany
as he had ministered to me in Africa.
He got well sooner than l did, but
modesty compels me to say it was
not because of better nursing. His
collar bone nor right arm were not
smashed, neither had he the skin
torn direct from the scalp over the
eyes-which leads me to the opinion
that a collision with a rock is less
formidable than one with a lion.-
Then there are better facilities for
nursing in that pretty Saxony town
than in the heart of Africa; besides,
Iwasn't the only nurse he had; la
dy travelling in the vicinity kindly
aided me. She was not altogether a
stranger to Phil-nor to me for that
matter.


She was very gentle and beauti-
full, with that winning way about her
that reaches the heart, magnetizes it,
and enthralls it, without the exact
knowledge of that organ.


There was something in the slight
pressure of her hand upon Phil's
forehead, the floating of her diapha-
nous drapery about his bedside, the
melody of her voice, the soft gleam-
ing of her luminous eyes through the
dimmed light of the sick room that
made her presence consoling, healing,
divine.


Then when Phil had fallen into
slumber she came to me, her fellow
watcher, and ministered to my COM
fort through the dark watches of the
night. She listened with tender in
terest to my adventures in Africa,
and was especially never tired of a
terrible struggle of mine with male
lion in the defile of the mountains.
She declared it was thrilling, grand,
heroic; and, touching with her slen-
der fingers the scars upon my face,
pronounced them beautiful, while l,
alas, caught and kissed those gentle
fingers, and whispered that Phif's
convalescence were not so rapid, and
that we might forever-we three
rest together on the verdure crown
ed heights "like gods together, heed
less of mankind"


On one of these occasions ! was
relating to her a desperate encounter
of ours in the jungle with apanther,
and had reached the most thrilling
part of it; she covered her eyes with
one hand, as if to shut out the terri
BILE scene, and the other she stretch
ed to me in sympathy with my rela-
tion to the combat. Absorbed with
nay story, Just touched the white
fingers to my lips with caressing
movement, when suddenly Phil stood