8 TJic Ho III r of the Wolverene and Beaver. 



" Never mind me, mother, I 'm all right. How 

 is Paul ?" 



" Paul is very ill, my dear, and must be kept 

 perfectly quiet." 



"Then I must go and sec him," and the lad 

 made an effort to rise, but fell back exhausted in 

 the bed. " He has saved my life," he murmured, 

 " and I am unable even to nurse him. You know 

 that it is through me that Paul got under the ice, 

 don't you, mother.'" he ran on impetuously, not- 

 withstanding IMrs. Marshall's efforts to restrain him. 

 " I saw him coming towards me, pushing a hurdle 

 before him and shouting to me to keep quiet for a 

 moment, and not break the rotten edge any more 

 by my struggles. In my fright I paid no attention 

 to his advice, and, clutching at the hurdle too sud- 

 denly, the ice gave way all round. Paul managed 

 to get the hurdle out of the water again, and had 

 helped me on to it, when his hands became numbed 

 and he sank. Remember, mother, he could have 

 saved himself had he liked, but he had promised 

 you to bring me back safely, and at the peril of his 

 own life he kept his word." 



The above sentence will give the reader as good 

 an idea of the catastrophe as a longer description. 

 On seeing his companion immersed, Paul Gresham 

 remembered some hurdles that were stacked near the 



