rp. If a knife is going to be worth a grain of salt it should be
sharp. Many a fellow has realized this with dismay when some situation
has confronted him calling for a keen blade, and has found his knife
almost worthless to solve the difficulty.

Perhaps had he been asked later just how he managed to get that knife
out of his pocket, and the largest blade opened, Paul might have some
trouble in telling.

The first thing he knew, he was again pushing himself inch by inch
closer to the boy who was hung up in the tree, and feeling for the rope
that held Nuthin fast.

When, after a little, he had found it, Paul prepared to press the edge
of his knife against the same.

"Oh! please hurry, Paul; I'm awfully afraid the tree will go down!" he
heard Nuthin cry.

But Paul had another problem to face. If he cut suddenly there would be
nothing to support the other, and Nuthin might have an ugly fall through
small branches that would scratch his face still more than it had been
already cut.

"Can you feel anything under your feet?" he asked, almost in the other's
ear.

"Yes, I've been standing on a small limb; but sometimes I slip off when
that wind swings the tree so. I'm deathly sick, Paul, and dizzy. But one
of my hands is loose now. Tell me what to do, please," came back
instantly, as loud as Nuthin could speak.

"That's good," declared Paul. "Feel around just above you. Can't you
get hold of a branch or two, and hang on when I cut the rope? I want to
keep you from falling when the support goes."

"Why, yes, I've got hold of one, Paul," answered Nuthin, who seemed to
catch a trifle of the other's coolness; "and my feet are on the one
below, now."

Paul dared not wait another second. He pressed the blade against the
rope, and with a determined movement severed the strands.

Then, dropping his handy knife, he immediately threw his arm around the
body of Nuthin. Possibly the other might have managed to keep from
falling; but still he was in a state of panic, and his muscles were
weakened by their recent confinement.

"It's all right!" Paul shouted, when Nuthin gave utterance to a shriek:
"I've got you safe! Now, try to work your way over here. Take it easy,
and you'll make it, never fear."

And Nuthin did. By degrees he seemed to gather courage, and was able to
help himself. In times of stress there is nothing like confidence. It
carries nearly everything before it, and brings victory where otherwise
defeat must