30 Buz. 



the accident had happened so suddenly, and taken 

 her so utterly by surprise, that it was no wonder she 

 lost courage. Only for a moment though ; just as 

 she was giving up in despair the hard and seemingly 

 useless work of paddling and struggling with all her 

 poor little legs at once, she saw that a bit of stick 

 was floating near her, and with renewed energy she 

 attempted to get to it. Alas ! it was all she could 

 do to keep her head above water ; as for moving 

 along through it, that seemed impossible, and she 

 was tempted to give up once more. It was very 

 hard though ; there was the stick, not more than a 

 foot away from her ; if she could only reach it ! At 

 any rate, she was determined it should not be her 

 fault if she was unsuccessful ; so she battled away 

 harder than ever, though her strength began to fail 

 and she was becoming numbed with the cold. 

 Just as she made this last effort another gust of 

 wind swept over the pond, and Buz saw that the 

 stick began to move through the water, and to come 

 nearer and nearer to her. The fact was that a small 

 twig sticking up from it acted as a sail, though Buz 

 didn't know this. And now the stick was quite 

 close, almost within reach ; in another moment she 

 would be on it. Ah ! but a moment seems a long 

 time when one is at the last gasp, as poor Buz was. 



