Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of CaliforniaHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of California
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
California -- Gold discoveries -- Juvenile fiction
"Take off his wet clothes," he said, as he handed his burden to some of
the men. "Wrap him up in my coat and his own, and then run with him up
to the Humane Society's House, they will bring him round in no time; it
is cold, not drowning."
Then he looked again across the water. The little dog was swimming
feebly now, its nose scarcely above the surface. It had given a
plaintive cry of despair as it saw those who had approached so near turn
back, for there were but some five yards between the spot where the
boy's strength had failed and the circle which it had broken in its
efforts to climb out.
"I can't be colder than I am," Frank said to himself, "so here goes."
Accordingly he again dashed into the water and swam to the end of the
narrow passage; a few vigorous strokes broke the intervening barrier of
ice. He seized the little dog, put it on the ice, and with a push sent
it sliding towards the shore, and then turned and swam back again.
It was only just where the dog had fallen in that the ice was too weak
to bear its weight, and, after lying for two or three minutes utterly
exhausted, it scrambled to its feet and made its way to the bank, where
it was soon wrapped in the apron of its delighted mistress.
Frank, on reaching the shore, was scarcely able to stand, so benumbed
were his legs by the cold. His cousins had made their way through the
crowd to the spot.
"O Frank," Alice exclaimed, "what a mad thing for you to do. Oh! I am so
pleased you did it--but oh, you do look cold! What will you do?"
"I am all right, Alice," Frank said, as cheerfully as his chattering
teeth would allow him to speak. "You go home with Fred; I shall get a
hot bath and have my clothes dried at the receiving-house, and shall be
as right as a trivet in half an hour. There, good-bye!"
Frank walked stiffly at first, but was presently able to break into a
run, which he kept up until he reached the establishment of the Royal
Humane Society. His first question, as he entered, was for the boy.
"He will do, sir," the attendant answered, "we popped him at once into
a hot bath we had ready, and he has opened his eyes, and is able to
speak; we have just got him into bed between warm blankets, and now it's
your turn."
In another minute Frank was in the bath from which the boy had just been
taken, for there was no time to prepare another. For the first minute or
two he felt an intense pain as the blood flowed back into his chilled
limbs, then a delightful sensation of warmth and comfort stole over him;
a glass of hot brandy and water completed his cure, and a few minutes
later he felt that he was fast going off to sleep in the warm blankets
between which he was laid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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