of the night. When the horse was quiet, peering ahead, with
its sharp little ears pointed forward, there was no sound save the
vague sighing of the wind through the tops of the scrub pines and the
gentle ripple of the waters.

As George Denham urged his horse forward, confident of his familiarity
with the surroundings, Blue Dave ran up on the little ridge to the left
through which the road had been cut or worn.

"Mars. George!" he shouted, "don't you see wharbouts you is? Wait,
Mars. George! Pull dat hoss up!"

But Blue Dave was too late. As he spoke, the horse and buggy plunged
into the flood, and for a moment they were lost to view. Then the
struggling animal seemed to strike rising ground; but the buggy was
caught in the resistless current, and, with George Denham clinging to
it, it dragged the horse down, and the swirling waters seemed to sweep
over and beyond them. Blue Dave lost not a moment. Flinging himself
into the flood from the vantage-ground on which he stood, a few strokes
of his sinewy arms carried him to where he saw George Denham disappear.
That young man was an expert swimmer; and though the sudden immersion
had taken him at a disadvantage, he would have made his way out with
little difficulty but for the fact that a heavy piece of driftwood had
been hurled against his head. Stunned, but still conscious, he was
making an ineffectual attempt to reach the shore, when he was caught by
Blue Dave and borne safely back to land. The horse, in its struggles,
had succeeded in tearing itself loose from the buggy, and they heard it
crawl up the bank on the other side and shake itself. Blue Dave carried
George Denham out of the water as one would carry a child. When he had
set the young man down in a comparatively dry place, he exclaimed with
a grin--

"Dar now, Mars. George! w'at I tell you? Little mo' en de tarrypins
would 'a' bin a-nibblin' atter you."

George Denham was dazed as well as weak. He put his hand to his head
and tried to laugh.

"You were just in time, old fellow," he said.

Then he got on his feet, and tried to walk, but he would have sunk down
again but for Blue Dave's arm.

"Why, I'm as weak as a stray cat," he exclaimed, feebly. "Let me lie
down here a moment."

"Dat I won't, Mars. George! dat I won't! I tuck 'n' brung you out, en
now I'm a-gwineter take 'n' ca'er you back dar whar Miss Kitty
waitin'."

"Well, you'll have to wait until I can walk."

"No, sir; I'll des squat down,