JASPKK ST. ALBYN. 31 1 



succession iutu the mr, lushing the water with liis angrv tail^ 

 and then rushed like an arrow down the ehasni. 



" He wa-s ^oue — but Jasper's hlood was up, and thinking of 

 nothing but his sport, he dashed torwjird, and embarked, with 

 a fearless foot, in the terrible descent. 



" Lfup after leap lie took with beautiful precision, ali^htiufj 

 tirui and iTeet on the centre of each slippery l)h)ck, and bound- 

 ing thence to the next with uucrrini; instinct, j^uidiui;- bis fish 

 the whili' with ciuisuiuinatc skill tbrou<;h the intricacies of 

 the pass. 



"There were now but three more leaps to be taken before he 

 would reach the flat table-rock above the fall, which once 

 attained, he would have tirni foot-hold and a fair field ; already 

 he rejoiced, triumphant in the success of his bold attainment, 

 and confident in victory, when a shrill fenude shriek reached 

 his cars from the pretty flower-garden ; eau};ht by the sound, he 

 diverted his eyes, just as he leaped, toward the place whence it 

 came; his foot slipped, and the ne\t instant he was Hat on his 

 back in the swift stream, where it shot the most furiously over 

 the ghussy roek. lie stru;,'|::led manfully, but in ^ain. The 

 smooth, slippery surface afforded no purchase to his griping 

 fingers, no hold tn his labouring feet. One fearful, agonising 

 contliet with the wild waters, and he was swept helplessly over 

 the edge of the fall, his head, as he glanced down foot foremost, 

 striking the rocky brink with fearful violence. 



" He was plunged into the deep pool, and whirleil round and 

 round by the dark eddies long bcforc he rose, but still, though 

 stunned and half-disabled, he strove terribly to support himself, 

 but it was all in \ain. 



