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Page 35
"'Oh, I'll see about that. I know where there's an old tree that lies clear
across the stream. We can get over on that, just as well as we could over
the foot-bridge,'
"And so they started for the old tree, which was to serve them for a
bridge. It had been blown down by the wind, and had fallen across the
stream, so that the large end rested on the side where the boys were, while
the upper limbs reached the opposite bank. When the boys got to the tree,
they saw that it was not quite so convenient a bridge as they could wish;
and Charley Mason, who was not by any means a headstrong lad, and not used
to such adventures, said he would rather not attempt to cross it. But the
other two boys laughed at him, and told him not to be a coward; and he
finally determined he would venture, if the others succeeded. They did
succeed, and Charley, not without some trembling--which, of course, made
his danger the greater--prepared to follow. 'Take care, Charley! take care!
Rather dangerous business, isn't it? Cling closely to the tree. There--so.
Don't look down into the water, or you'll be dizzy. That's the way. Come
on, now. Don't hang on to that dry limb! It will break and let you fall
into the water, if you do. How the poor fellow trembles! _Plash_!
There he goes, I declare!'
[Illustration: CHARLES CROSSING THE BROOK.]
"Sure enough, Charles had slipped and fallen into the stream! and his
companions, so frightened that they hardly knew what they did, took to
their heels, and ran as fast as they could toward home!"
"Poor Charley! he was drowned, then?" said Robert.
"No, he managed to get out of the water; but he had a hard time of it,
though. He could not swim very well, at the best; and with all his clothes
on, it was as much as he could do to swim at all. If the river had been a
little wider, he never could have got out alone. As it was, however, by the
help of some rocks there were in the brook, he reached the shore, pretty
thoroughly exhausted, and not a little frightened. His zeal for
trout-fishing was by this time a good deal cooled off, as you may suppose.
The nearest he came to catching any of those cunning little fellows that
day, was when he tumbled into the brook; and then he had something else to
think of.
"There he was, alone, wet as a drowned rat, and shivering, partly from cold
and partly from fright, as if he had the ague. Poor fellow! His conscience
began to be heard again, now he had time to think. He hardly knew what to
do; he was ashamed to go home to his mother; and there he stood, for a good
while, leaning his head on the fence near the water, the tears all the time
chasing each other down his cheeks."
"I don't wonder he cried," said Robert; "but I can't help laughing to think
what a sorry figure he must have made there, on the bank! And he was going
to bring home such a nice string of fish, too! I wonder if his mother did
not laugh when she saw him coming. Did he stay there, father, shivering and
crying, till some body came after him?"
[Illustration: CHARLES, AFTER THE DUCKING.]
"No, he started for home before any of the neighbors reached the spot where
he fell into the river; and, as they missed him on the way, they supposed
he was drowned, and searched for his body half an hour or more, till they
learned he was safe at home."
"Well, what did his mother say to him, father?"
"She did not say much, poor woman. She was not well, as I said before, when
Charles left her; and as her servant had gone away for a week, and she had
no one but him to assist her in her work, she became very much fatigued;
and when she heard that Charles had fallen into the river, she fainted
immediately. She had hardly recovered when the boy reached the house."
"I think Charles was a very bad boy."
"Not so much worse than many others, perhaps, as you may suppose. You judge
of the boy's conduct by the consequences of it. If he had been successful
in his trout-fishing, and no accident had happened to his mother, you would
not have thought half as much of his guilt in acting contrary to his
mother's wishes."
"Certainly not."
"But the boy would have been just as bad, for all that."
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