CHAPTER XIV.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 212, 23 July 1887, Page 6

CHAPTER XIV.

A NARROW I'.SOAPK. LI'XCH over, Walter brought water from an icy spung near by, and which his fi lends prefeirod to the cold coffee and tea which they had found with the other contents of their baskets, and then he a<>ked "Ruby if she felt equal to climbing to the top of the blidge. " I-> that question intended as a sarcasm upon the amount of Mr» Ruggles's good things that I hti\o managed to dispose of?" she a\ked, laughing, bub with a saucy toss of her head. " Ko, indeed ; I should not presume to indulge in anything of the kind after my own depredations upon that basket," Walter returned, " but I thought the climb might be weai iwme for you." " Oh, 1 shall not mind that, and it does not look so very far ; although I have learned that distances are very deceptive in this region." "The ascent is not diflicujt ; the only trouble will be thai you may grow dizzy from the immense height." "My head is not a very giddy one, as I think I have already proved," Ruby returned, tos3ing it guyly. "lam not apt to

|oso it, as fcho boys say^ dVw anything. So f you will take the troitfilte 1 to pilot me I am ready to begin my pilgttohage." The ascent was steep, btf& there was a good path all the way up, f<W many feefc passed back und forth that way during the summer-time. But Mr Marshall was not very strong, having been somewhat of an invalid that season, and he gave out before half the distance was accomplished, and his wife would not go on without him, hence our young people were obliged to proceed alone. This was no hardship to them, though they were sorry their friends should lose the fino view that was to be obtained from the bridge. The top was at length gained, when Walter turned and again held out his hand to Ruby. "Let me steady you until you get accustomed to it," he said, and she unhesitatingly complied with a trustful littlo smile that sot all his pulses bounding. Tho arch was perhaps fifteen or sixteen feet in width, though, owing to the great height and the length of ii L /> span, it appeared much narrower. " Oil, what a fearful height," Ruby said, under her breath, as she looked half fearfully around her. "It seems almost like being suspended in mid-air." Then, glancing at tho opposite side, she asked : " Has anybody ever crossed it f " Yes, many people : 1 have been over once, but 1 hardly think it is a safe oxploit, for a littlo giddiness, a single misstep might send one to the bottom of the ravine, while there is no way of ogress on tho opposite side, as you peiccive; tho rock is almost perpendicular. " "I do not believe that anybody has crossed it this year," Ruby remarked, " for the moss grows like a carpet over it, and tho ivy, trailing all about, looks as if not a single leat had been disturbed." Walter called her attention to the view to be obtained on both sides of the bridge, and where they could get some idea of the immense gorge, which some violent upheaval or convulsion of nature must have opened thcio in tho very heart of tho mountain in the ages past. It Avas a weird yet beautiful and impressive scone, for the gorgeous tints of autumn were everywhere, and made bright and lovely pictures and contrasts against the grey and moss-grown rocks. "How prettily that tree grows out ovor tho edge of the roeki," said Ruby, calling I Walter's attention to a birch not far from ! them, "while tho>e wreaths of led and i yellow woodbine trailing over it make it very picturesque. Oh ! and I really believe there are some G/ndonia Jiankiferina, or reindeer lichen, growing at the foot of it ! I must have them—they are fine specimen* and veiy rare," and without a thought of the danger lurking on every hand, intent only upon gaining possession of the treasures that she had discovered, she sprang forward to gather them. Walter did not compiehend any danger. The roots of the tree did not seem to be very near the hi ink, though tho upper portion of the trunk and branches overhung it. Vet, if they had but known it, the rock sloped away treacherously there, and was concealed by rank growth of woodbine, w Inch entwined all about tho tree. " Let me get them for you, Miss Gordon, Walter i-aid? stepping forward. "I laiinot bear to see you run the slightest risk." But she was already on her knees at the foot of the tiee, and she looked up at him with a bright little laugh. "I will be very careful," she said. " See ! 1 have hold of the trunk of the tifce very mmly, and these lichens are very choice and tender. I dare not trust them to your handling, »* they require delicate treatment." "They are pretty," Walter remarked, watching her white hand-, as she deftly separated them from the rock. " W ; there is quite a wealth of them here, too, and I can make biich pretty things of them with different kinds of moss and dainty shell's. I will send you something at Christmas to remind you of this lovely "You are very kind; I shall be glad of the aouvenir, but I shall not need anything to remind me of this day," the young man replied, thinking that he could never forgot the pretty "picture that she made, in her dainty blue dies and white hat, among the gold and red of the autumn-tinted woodbine. "I wish I had a little basket to put these in," Ruby continued, as she held up a handtul of the little blight caps and looked at them lovingly. " Put them in my hat until we go down, and then I will deposit them in the lunch-ba-sket," Walter said, removing his straw hat and bending to receive the lichens. "Thanks," she answered, as she spread her handkerchief in it before depositing her tieasures. . '•'Are there more that you wish to o-athcr ?" her companion asked. " He could not bear to have her remain so near that frightful precipice, and yet there did not seem to be any danger with that tree between it and her. Yes, there were ju&t a fey more particularly fine ones, she told him, as she stooped forward to wet them. In doing so, she leaned her weight more heavily against the tree, and, without; an instant's warning, its rotten, deceitful trunk, whose sap had all gone to nourish the few thrifty branches at tho top, snapped sshorb ofF. Ruby lost her balance, and, with a cry of horror, went slipping down toward that frightful abyss, from which thoie could be no rescue. " Oh, Walter, save me !" she cried, turning her imploring eyes and death-like face to him. He sprang toward her, terrorwritten upon every feature of his own white face, while he knew that if he should live for centuries he should never forget that appealing cry, those anguished eyes and hueless lips. But even before he could stretch out his hand to help her, he saw that she could go no farther, for her dress had caught upon the stump of the tree, while the tangled woodbine which had grown so closely about ifc held her fost. He was not five seconds in reaching her, but that would have been long enough for her to have been past all human aid, but for that ragged, splintered trunk, and those closely interwoven vines. He reached down and firmly grasped the hand that she stretched forth to him. " You are safe," he said, reassuringly. "Wait just an instant until lean get a firmer footing, then I will 'ift you up." He planted one foot securely between a rock and the trunk of the tree, for he knew the danger that a single false move would entail, while neither tree nor vines would be strong enough to'bear their united weight if lie should lose his balance. Then he stooped and put his arm around her slight form, and drew her safely up , and away from the fearful peril that had menaced her. It was a very narrow escape, and both were weak and faint from L he trying cxi perience. They stood looking into each other's face for a few moments, speechless and trembling. Both were of tho hue of death, while neither appeared to be aware that Walter had encircled the girl he had saved with both arms, as if thus he would shield her from all future harm.

f Ci You 1 f**wy saved me T Ruby at length \ t#&athed,. fMtf' -white lfp® scarcely equal to ' ibc effort- of jtuflrcangr tm trorda, while she lifted' her gratofmf eyes te> hi». i<l^fk\ my dMrliag,. if I had wo« saved you !' y he began, bwfi lrf« voice quivered and biT4l:e v at the sensfc oJf tieaolation that swept over him with ish& tfroo#ht of what his future- would' haye 1 be«n> if she had now been lyings bleeding a«tl : mangled, in that cavern below. For a minute longer they stood, eye looking into eye',, while their souls- seemed to say that henceforth they \yoivld 1 telong to each other; though> oven' m» tifraB supreme momont, Walter 'said to himself that no word of his should' tempt her to> seal her gratitude with any impetuous pledge. He was conscious- that ho luwll grown to love hor as a man Jbves only ontte- in bis life ; but he resolved' Chat ho woulcK win her by the power of that lbve alone. Her wottltl not be guilty of taking advantage 1 o£ tor presentVeakness, or sense of obligation tohim, to surprise any confession from her ,-. and yet she was clinging to -him wttfti swell an eacer, convulsive hold, that he 1 cowld hardly s resist folding her to his heart and soothing her with the 1 fond words thatt wet?©ready to burst 'from his lips, and 1 were only restrained by the power of hiS'Sllong: will. " Come," he said, as ho felt how slie-wa^-slill trembling, " hit, u.s go down from here, or would you prefer to re?t awhile before making the attempt '!" " Yea ; I must sit down fora few minutes. I am so weak that I cannot walk," she whispered, and leaning so heavily upon him that he feared she was going to faint. But she did not, and he led her a little away from the spot where she had come so near losing her precious life, and seated her gently on the ground. Then lie went back to get his hat and the lichens, which lay scattered on the rock where he had clashed them in his mad fear. He even stopped to gather a few more, thinking that Ruby would grow calm more quickly if loft to herself for a little while. When he went back to her, he found her. sitting with bowed head in a reverent attitude, and he knew instinctively that she was giving thanks for the great mercy that had saved her from a dreadful death. She looked up and smiled, however, as he came forward, holding out one little still trembling hand to him. " Next to (Jod I owe you most grateful thanks," she said, with deep emotion. He knelt down beside her and touched hi.s lips fco her hand. " (,'rati/tifle is not a word to be used between us, Ruby," he said, softly, and she seemed to recognise the fact, for her lovely eyes drooped quickly, and a burning blush swept over her face in spite of her pallor. Walter was almost sorry he had allowed himself to say so much, but he had uttered the words almost before he was aware of what he was saying. She had not appeared to resent them, however ; indeed, that quick blush had kindled within his heart a hope that she might be learning to regard him with a tendeicr feeling than that of mere friendship. A silence fell over them for a time, but it was at length broken by Ruby, who asked with a shyness in her manner : " Will you take mo clown now, please? lam feeling much better, and— and do not say anything to Mr and Mrs Marshall about my accident"; I would rather they did not know." "Very well, I will not mention it," Walter leturned, and she allowed him to support her clown the path until they came in sight of their friends, when she assumed a composure and brightness which she was far from feeling, and kept it up until she was seated in the carriage and on her way back to Farmer Ru£gle?V home. The drive home was more quiet than that of the morning had been, for Ruby and Walter still felt the effects of the terrible shock which they had received, while, too, both were conscious of a new hope and experience that had been born within them. At Ruby's request, it was agreed that upon their return nothing should be said of her narrow escape, and thus Robert (lordon never knew how near he came to losing hi" idolised sister on that bright autumn day among the mountains^