120 



WINTER 







at his post; but the ice-cakes floated in and touched^ \ 

 him ; the water no longer felt cold. 



On this side, then on that, out over the swollen 

 river, down into the tossing meadow flared the lan- 

 tern as the doctor worked his way along. 



Above the great sluice be paused a moment, then\ ' 

 bent his head to the wind and started on, when hisf > 

 foot touched something soft that yielded strangely, \ , 

 sending a shiver over him, and his light fell upon at / 

 bunch of four dead muskrats lying in the path. 



Along the meadow side flashed the lantern, up and 7y 

 over the riverside, and Doctor Sam, reaching quickly j ' 

 down, drew a limp little form in yellow oil-skins out\ [ 

 of the water, as the men behind him came up. .; 



A gurgle, a hiss, a small whirlpool sucking at the \ \ 

 surface, and the tide was again tearing through | " ' 

 the breach that the boy had filled. 



The men sprang quickly to their task, and did itKV 

 well, while Doctor Sam, shielding the limp little formv ', 

 from the wind, forced a vial of something between V^ 

 the white lips, saying over to himself as he watched '$ 

 the closed eyes open, " If I had a boy of my own , 

 If I had a boy 



No, Doctor Sam never had a boy of his own ; but Sj? 

 he always felt, I think, that the boy of those yellow Jq 

 oil-skins was somehow pretty nearly his. 



After a long, cold winter how I love the spatter on 



