the water and
turning the wheel just as a turnspit dog would work, or a squirrel in
its cage, only that I was outside the wheel and they would have been in.

I came down with a splash; and as I clung there I could hear the water
go softly lapping against the wall and whispering in the corners as if
it were talking to itself about how soon I should have to loose my hold,
sink down, and be drowned.

I was weakened by this last effort as well as by the strain upon my
nerves, and as the water ceased to lap and whisper a horrible silence
crept down into the place in company with the darkness. Only a few
minutes before all was bright where the sun rays flashed in; now there
was only a soft glow to be seen, and all about me black gloom.

I grew more and more numbed and helpless, and but for the fact that I
hung there by my hands being crooked over the edge of the board across
the wheel, I believe I must have fallen back, but my fingers stiffened
into position and helped me to retain my hold, till at last they began
to give way.

I had been thinking of home and of my uncles, and wondering how soon
they would find me, and all in a dull nerveless way, for I suppose I was
too much exhausted to feel much mental or bodily pain, when all at once
I began to recall stories I had read about the Saint Bernard dogs and
the travellers in the snow; and then about the shepherds' collies in the
north and the intelligence they displayed.

Several such tales came to my memory, and I was just thinking to myself
that they were all nonsense, for if dogs had so much intelligence, why
had not Piter, who had a head big enough for a double share of dogs'
brains, gone and fetched somebody to help me, instead of making his own
escape, and then going and curling himself up by one of the furnaces to
get dry--a favourite place of his if he had the chance.

Just then, as I seemed to be half asleep, I heard a sharp bark at a
distance, then another nearer, and directly after Piter was on the top
of the wheel, where he had stepped from the sluice trough, barking with
all his might.

"Wheer is he then, boy? Wheer is he then?" said a gruff hoarse voice.

Piter barked more furiously than ever, and the glow seemed to give way
to darkness overhead, as the voice muttered:

"Dear, dear! Hey! Think o' that now. Mester Jacob, are you theer?"

"Help!" I said, so faintly that I was afraid I should not be heard.

"Wheerabouts? In the watter?"

"I'm--o