cascades from the new channel. Without a word the
miner placed himself facing Dick and the moment the bucket was again
down, the three grasped the handles. But quickly as they worked, the
edge of the water was within a few inches of the shaft when the next man
reached the surface; but again the bucket descended before the rope
tightened. However, the water had began to run over the lip--at first in
a mere trickle, and then, almost instantaneously, in a cascade, which
grew larger and larger.

The bucket was half-way up when a sound like thunder was heard, the
ground seemed to tremble under their feet, and then at the turn of the
valley above, a great wave of yellow water, crested with foam, was seen
tearing along at the speed of a race-horse.

"The dam has burst!" Saunders shouted. "Run for your lives, or we are
all lost!"

The three men dropped the handles and ran at full speed towards the
shore, while loud shouts to Dick to follow came from the crowd of men
standing on the slope. But the boy still grasped the handles, and with
lips tightly closed, still toiled on. Slowly the bucket ascended, for
Red George was a heavy man; then suddenly the weight slackened, and the
handle went round faster. The shaft was filling, the water had reached
the bucket, and had risen to Red George's neck, so that his weight was
no longer on the rope. So fast did the water pour in, that it was not
half a minute before the bucket reached the surface, and Red George
sprang out. There was but time for one exclamation, and then the great
wave struck them. Red George was whirled like a straw in the current;
but he was a strong swimmer, and at a point where the valley widened
out, half a mile lower, he struggled to shore.

Two days later the news reached Pine-tree Gulch that a boy's body had
been washed ashore twenty miles down, and ten men, headed by Red George,
went and brought it solemnly back to Pine-tree Gulch. There, among the
stumps of pine-trees, a grave was dug, and there, in the presence of the
whole camp, White-faced Dick was laid to rest.

Pine-tree Gulch is a solitude now, the trees are growing again, and none
would dream that it was once a busy scene of industry; but if the
traveller searches among the pine-trees, he will find a stone with the
words:

"Here lies White-faced Dick, who died to save Red George. 'What can a
man do more than give his life for a friend?'"

The text was the suggestion of an ex-clergyman working as a