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 his 

 foot touched something soft that yielded strangely, 

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

 bunch of four dead muskrats lying in the path. 



Along the meadow side flashed the lantern, up and 

 over the riverside, and Doctor Sam, reaching quickly 

 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 it 

 well, while Doctor Sam, shielding the limp little form 

 from the wind, forced a vial of something between 

 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 

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

 oil-skins was somehow pretty nearly his. 



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



