th the rod
grasped in both hands.

"It would be better," continued Hendrick, "if you could cast out into
the stream beyond, but the line is too short for that, unless you could
jump on to that big rock in the rapid, which is impossible with the
river so high."

Oliver looked at the rock referred to. It stood up in the midst of
foaming water, full twenty feet from the bank. He knew that he might as
well try to jump over the moon as attempt to leap upon that rock;
nevertheless, without a moment's hesitation, he rushed down the bank,
sprang furiously off, cleared considerably more than half the distance,
and disappeared in the foaming flood!

Hendrick was suddenly changed from a slow and sedate elephant into an
agile panther. He sprang along the bank to a point lower down the
stream, and was up to the waist in the water before Olly reached the
point--struggling to keep his head above the surface, and at the same
time to hold on to his rod. Hendrick caught him by the collar, and
dragged him, panting, to land.

Paul and his father had each, with a shout of surprise or alarm, rushed
for the same point, but they would have been too late.

"Olly, my son," said Trench, in a remonstrative tone, "have you gone
mad?"

"No, father; I knew that I could not jump it, but I've been advised
never to say so till I have tried!"

"Nay, Oliver, be just," said the guide, with a laugh. "I did truly
advise you never to say `I can't' till you had tried, but I never told
you to try the impossible. However, I am not sorry you did this, for
I'd rather see a boy try and fail, than see him fail because of
unwillingness to try. Come, now, I will show you something else to
try."

He took Oliver up the stream a few yards, and pointed to a ledge of
rock, more than knee-deep under water, which communicated with the rock
he had failed to reach.

"The ledge is narrow," he said, "and the current crossing it is strong,
but from what I've seen of you I think you will manage to wade out if
you go cautiously, and don't lose heart. I will go down stream again,
so that if you should slip I'll be ready to rescue."

Boldly did Oliver step out upon the ledge; cautiously did he advance
each foot, until he was more than leg-deep, and wildly, like an insane
semaphore, did he wave his arms, as well as the heavy rod, in his
frantic efforts not to lose his balance! At last he planted his feet,
with a cheer of triumph, on the rock.

"Hush, Olly, you