She looked up and down the sun-kissed river in great delight. “Isn’t it b’utiful, mamma?” “Yes, dear.” Then she noticed Jack’s admiring gaze. He thought she was the most charming little creature he had ever seen. She smiled in a friendly way, and then with some little hesitation held out one of her hands to him. He took it and shook it gently. “Oo is a nice boy, ain’t oo?” The old gentleman looked at Jack, and the lady smiled, while the boy himself flushed a little at the child’s artless remark and the attention it had drawn to him. “Oo! Isn’t dat high!” cried the girl, pointing at the central span of the Brooklyn bridge. “Yes,” answered Jack. Just then the engine bell rang, and the boat stopped in mid-stream, while her whistle gave out several shrill toots. Another gong sounded, and the boat began to back and her head to swerve slowly down the river. Jack looked ahead as well as he could and saw part of a large freight float close aboard. Then came a sudden and violent shock that threw the passengers almost off their feet. The boy grabbed the rail, but the old gentleman went down on the deck, his arm slipping from the child, who went overboard with the shock. The lady, who had been thrown back several feet, gave a heart-rending scream and flew at the rail. “Fanny, my darling! Oh, heaven, she is overboard! Save her!” The little girl had struggled for a moment on the surface of the river and then sank out of sight. One or two men in the midst of the confusion ran to get life-preservers, and everybody else, except Jack Hazard, seemed to be staggered by the calamity, and gazed out on the water with bulged eyes. But the boy never lost his head. Jack whipped off his jacket, mounted the rail, and leaped into the water. He struck out lustily for the spot where the child had gone down, and presently saw one little arm and a portion of her golden hair appear on the surface not far away. “There she is,” he murmured, and redoubled his efforts to reach her before she should go down again. But she went under again before he could seize her, and the plucky boy dived. Though encumbered by his clothes, Jack was so much at home in the water that he had little difficulty in following the descent of the bright-hued dress the child wore, and he had one arm about the unconscious little one in a brief space of time. Kicking out with all his might, he rose to the surface like a duck. A life-preserver floated near. Resting the little girl’s head on it, he pushed it before him toward the ferryboat, the rail and end of which were now black with excited people. Several deck hands were standing outside the folding guards with ropes in their hands, and the moment Jack was seen to be within reach one of them flung his line so that it struck the water close to him. He seized the end with his disengaged hand, and the men began to pull him in at once.