"No, no, 'tain't safe, boys, don't you go for to try it," exclaimed Uncle Joe. "Pooh! what do you know about it?" returned Herbert, who always had great confidence in his own opinion. "If it won't bear us all at once, it certainly will one at a time. What do you say, Ed?" "I think Uncle Joe can judge better whether it's safe than little boys like us." "Don't you believe it: his eyes are getting old and he can't see half so well as you or I." "I kin see dat some ob de planks is gone, Marse Herbert; an' de ole timbahs looks shaky." "Shaky! nonsense! they'll not shake under my weight, and I'm going to cross." "Now, Herbie, don't you do it," said his brother. "You know mamma wouldn't allow it if she was here." "'Twon't be disobedience though; as she isn't here, and never has forbidden me to go on that bridge," persisted Herbert. "Mamma and papa say that truly obedient children don't do what they know their parents would forbid if they were present," said Eddie. "I say nobody but a coward would be afraid to venture on that bridge," said Herbert, ignoring Eddie's last remark. "Suppose it should break and let you fall! the worst would be a ducking." "De watah's deep, Marse Herbert, and you might git drownded!" said Uncle Joe. "Or maybe some ob de timbahs fall on you an' break yo' leg or yo' back." They were now close to the bridge. "It's very high up above the water," said Harry, "and a good many boards are off: I'd be afraid to go on it." "Coward!" sneered his brother. "Are you afraid too, Ed?" "Yes, I'm afraid to disobey my father; because that's disobeying God." "Did your father ever say a word about not going on this bridge?" "No; but he's told me never to run into danger needlessly; that is when there's nothing to be gained by it for myself or anybody else." "Before I'd be such a coward!" muttered Herbert, deliberately walking on to the bridge. The other two boys watched his movements in trembling, breathless silence, while Uncle Joe began looking about for some means of rescue in case of accident. Herbert picked his way carefully over the half-rotten timbers till he had gained the middle of the bridge, then stopped, looked back at his companions and pulling off his cap, waved it around his head, "Hurrah! here I am: who's afraid? who was right this time?" Then leaning over the low railing, "Oh!" he cried, "you ought just to see the fish! splendid big fellows. Come on, boys, and look at 'em!" But at that instant the treacherous railing gave way with a loud crack, and with a wild scream for help, over he went, headforemost, falling with a sudden plunge into the water and disappearing at once beneath the surface. "Oh he'll drown! he'll drown!" shrieked Harry, wringing his hands, while Eddie echoed the cry for help. "Run to de house, Marse Ed, an' fotch some ob de boys to git him out," said Uncle Joe, hurrying to the edge of the stream with an old fishing-rod he had found lying among the weeds on its bank.