All But Lost: A Novel. Vol. 1 of 3Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
All But Lost: A Novel. Vol. 1 of 3
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Fiction
The man who was crossing before them was, however, exactly in the line
of the omnibus as it came out of the fog. He stopped, hesitated, and,
although three steps would have placed him out of danger, he turned to
go back. As he did so in his haste and confusion his foot slipped on the
frozen road, and he fell. In another instant the horses would have been
upon him, when Frank Maynard, who had at once perceived the danger when
he stopped, sprang forward, snatched him up in his strong arms, as if he
had been a child, and threw himself forward. He was barely in time. The
shoulder of the off horse struck him, and sent him staggering with his
burden to the ground, but fortunately beyond the reach of the wheels.
Frank was on his feet in an instant, raised the man, who appeared to be
confused and hardly conscious of what was occurring, to his feet, and
assisted him to the footpath. All this was the work of half a minute,
and they were at once joined by Prescott.
“Are you hurt, Frank?” he asked, anxiously.
“No, nothing to speak of, old man; bruised myself a bit, and barked my
arm, at least I should say so by the feel of it; but I think that is
about all the damage.”
“I thought you were under the horses, Frank; you have made me feel quite
sick and faint. My dear fellow, this is the last walk I shall take with
you, if this is your way of going on.”
Frank laughed.
“It is all right, Prescott, there are no bones broken. How are you, sir?
not hurt, I hope,” he asked the man he had picked up, who was standing
looking round in a sort of confused bewildered way, as if he hardly yet
understood what had happened.
Frank repeated his question.
“Eh? I beg your pardon,” the man said; “were you speaking to me? No—no,
I don’t think I am hurt; indeed, I hardly know what is the matter. Let
me see——;” and he passed his hand helplessly over his forehead. “Oh yes,
I remember now. I was crossing, and I saw a ‘bus coming, and somehow I
slipped down. I shut my eyes so as not to see it come over me, and then
I felt myself caught up, and then another great shake. Yes, yes, I see
it all now; and it was you, sir, who picked me up, and saved my life?
Dear me—dear me—I do hope you are not hurt, sir. I know I owe my life to
you, for I must have been killed, and then what would have happened to
Carry? I do hope you are not hurt.”
Frank assured him that he was not.
“Now, really, sir” (the man went on in a rambling nervous sort of way),
“really I can’t thank you as I ought to do, but if you would but kindly
come in to see me, my Carry will thank you for both of us. I am a poor
nervous creature at the best, and the whole place seems in a whirl with
me, but here is my card,” and he produced a packet of cards from his
pocket. “It is a poor place, sir, but we should be very glad if you will
come in to see me; and will you please tell me what your name is?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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