er.
Exerting all his strength, the active boy leaped far beyond the
treacherous eddy that would have sucked him down among the sunken rocks,
and in another moment he was safe in the boat, which turned and shot
away from the perilous spot as lightly as the sea birds overhead.

A few days later the young hero received the reward that he had so
strangely won; and thus the would-be murderer, instead of destroying his
victim, actually helped him to earn more money than he had ever made in
his life. Nor did the villain go wholly unpunished, for the end of the
cut rope having been found and suspicion directed toward him, he had to
sneak away by night and never dared to show his face on that coast
again.

THE BLACK HOUND.

by FRANCIS S. PALMER.

We first saw him on a snowy November morning. The Adirondack Lake, where
I was staying that autumn, was not yet frozen; but a few days before
there had been a light fall of snow, and on this morning the evergreens
were draped in a feathery shroud. While I was yet asleep my guide, Rufe,
had caught a glimpse of a deer, swimming near the shore. No hounds were
heard; and, after an early breakfast, Rufe and I got into our boat and
paddled along the water's edge to discover, if possible, the track of
dog or wolf, which would explain why the deer had taken to the water.

As we came near the place where Rufe had seen the deer, we noticed a
slender, black animal crouching in the bushes. It proved to be a tall
hound, and, after some urging, he was persuaded to enter the boat.

The reason for the deer's early bath was now apparent; but Rufe was
surprised that he did not hear the hound's barking, for, like all old
hunters, it was his habit, in the deerhounding season to step into the
open air and listen, at short intervals during the morning, for the
barking of hounds.

This morning had been no exception to the rule; but neither before nor
after seeing the deer had Rufe heard the well-known baying of a
deerhound.

We took the gaunt animal into our boat and carried him back to the
shanty. He proved to be half-famished and wholly exhausted, and, after a
hearty meal, lay in a comatose condition before the fire. He must have
had a long chase, probably coming from some neighboring lake, for Rufe,
who knew all the hounds on our lake, had never seen him before.

When two or three days had passed and the black hound had recovered his
strength, Rufe took him