ry fast, and he arrived safely at the
bottom, where the boys and girls saw him, when they crowded around the
well, standing up to his arm-pits in water.

"Pull me up, quick!" cried Tommy, who still stood on the bucket, and
had hold of the rope.

The children did not wait to be asked twice. They seized the rope and
pulled their very best. But they could not move Tommy one inch. The
rope hung right down the middle of the well, and as they had to reach
over a good deal even to touch it, they could get no opportunity of
exerting their full strength upon it. And it is very well that they
could not, for had they been able to raise Tommy, it is probable that
one or two of them would have been jerked down the well every time he
slipped down again, which he would have been certain to do a great
many times before he reached the top.

They soon perceived that they could not draw Tommy from the well in
that way. And the stone-end of the pole was far out of their reach.
What should they do?

There was no one at the house but the two old people, and they were
scarcely as strong as the children. They all said a great deal, but
Jenny Naylor, who was much older than any of the others, saw that
something must be done instantly, for Tommy was crying out that he was
nearly frozen to death, and she was afraid that he would let go of the
rope, slip off of the bucket, and be drowned.

So, without a word to anybody, she ran to the upright stake and began
to climb it. This was a very unlady-like proceeding, perhaps, but
Jenny did not think about anything of that kind. She was the oldest
and the largest of them all, and there was no time to explain matters
to the boys. Up she went, as actively as any boy, and scrambling to
the crotch of the stake, she seated herself upon the pole.

Then she began to work herself slowly up towards the stone-end. And as
she gradually approached the stone, so she gradually began to sink a
little, and the nearer she got to it the more she sank and the higher
Tommy Barrett rose in the well!

She and the stone were heavier than he was, and some of the children
stood, with open mouths, looking at Jenny slowly coming down, while
the others crowded around the well to see Tommy slowly coming up.

When Jenny had nearly touched the ground, there was Tommy hanging
above the well!

Half a dozen little hands seized the bucket, and Tommy, as wet as a
dish-rag, stepped on to the curb.

I wish, from the bottom of my