My Strange Rescue, and Other Stories of Sport and Adventure in CanadaOxley, J. Macdonald (James Macdonald)
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My Strange Rescue, and Other Stories of Sport and Adventure in Canada
Oxley, J. Macdonald (James Macdonald)
Canada -- Juvenile fiction; Canada -- Juvenile literature
"Go on and win, old chap," said Frank to Jack, when the latter came up
to him. "I’m used up. I’ll just paddle in slowly. Oh, I’m all right,"
he added, as Jack showed signs of stopping to help him, "Tired out,
that’s all."
Cheer after cheer rang out as Jack, nearly exhausted himself, but
undaunted in spirit, swept by Frank, now paddling quite leisurely, and
finished the course amidst a general chorus of congratulation.
He felt as proud as Punch, and when Frank came ashore, threw his arms
around him affectionately, saying,—
"You’re a dear, good fellow to let me beat you."
Not that he had the slightest suspicion as to how it had really
happened.
Frank never told him. Indeed he never told anybody except his mother,
and she alone of all the people who witnessed it knew the secret of
Frank Brookfield’s sudden collapse in the swimming match at the Arm.
*HAROLD’S LASTING IMPRESSION.*
"Harold, Harold, Harold!" cried Mrs. Owen, at the top of her clear,
strong voice, her anxiety increasing as no answer came back. "Mercy on
me! what can have become of that boy? As sure as anything, he has gone
down to the wharf again—and after all that I have said to him too. I do
wish something would make a lasting impression upon him." And with a
feeling of uneasiness she could not shake off, the troubled mother went
back to her house-work, sighing over her boy’s disobedience.
Now Harold Owen was not really a bad boy. He loved his mother dearly,
and always felt sorry when he had grieved her; but he was such a
thoughtless little chap. Eight years old last October; stout, cheery,
and brave; full to overflowing of animal spirits; eager to do everything
he saw the older boys doing, and always wanting to be with them; quite
as heedless and forgetful as he was affectionate and obliging, sturdy
little Hal was just the kind of boy to make a mother whose only child he
was no less anxious than proud about him. And in these lovely summer
days, when nobody wanted to be indoors between daylight and dark, except
to eat their meals, poor Mrs. Owen had her hands full in trying to keep
track of her son, who would stray off in spite of her orders to stay
near home. You see, Harold did not just mean to flatly disobey his
mother. For days together he would do exactly what she told him, and
make her very happy. But every now and then some of the boys in the
neighbourhood—Jack Hardie, perhaps, or Frank Lawson—would come along,
and get talking with Hal over the garden fence; and as sure as they did,
it ended in the little fellow’s forgetting all about his mother’s
commands, and going off to the wharves, where sometimes he stayed so
long as to give his mother quite a fright.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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