had not understood it all, but she felt very sorry for the unhappy
king, and she thought she knew why he said he was like the bucket in the
deep, dark water when he sank under his grief and shame never to see any
more bright days.
She was leaning on the side of the well, with her hand upon the rope,
thinking very earnestly of it all and trying to catch a glimpse of the
bucket that was hanging there in the dark, when something dreadful
happened. Before she knew it, she had leaned over too far. She lost her
balance and fell over the side of the well. Down, down went the bucket,
more swiftly than it had ever gone before, and with it, but holding
desperately to the rope, went Daisy! There was only time for one
terrible cry--and she was out of sight in the well!
There was no one there to save her,--Yes, there was Bruno! He heard the
cry. He saw his little friend go down, and with a bark that rang across
to the mountains, he rushed to the well. He leaped frantically against
the low wooden side just as the bucket which had been in the water rose
even with its edge. Somehow he managed to fling his heavy paws on it,
then his whole body, and then, all at once, it was Bruno that was going
down, down, but clinging to the bucket and howling as he went,--and
Daisy was coming up!
It was only for a minute, therefore, that Daisy was in the water. The
next moment, thanks to the sudden pull at the other end of the rope, she
was rising again; and just as Bruno, loosened his hold of the bucket,
and dropped heavily into the water, Mr. Paul Gregg reached the side of
the well, seized the rope and drew Daisy to the top, gasping, shivering,
and frightened almost to death.
As soon as Daisy could speak, she said, "Save Bruno!" But they had
already begun to do that, and they did save him, of course. The brave
old fellow was none the worse for his adventure. He dried himself in the
sunshine, and then lay down beside the rocking-chair where Daisy sat
folded in a soft wrap, with vaseline on her blistered hands.
Daisy was none the worse for it either, in the end; though at first,
when her mother asked her how it happened and she tried to say something
about a "poor king," and "a bucket-full of tears," the poor lady was
afraid the plunge had affected her daughter's mind, and to this day she
is in doubt whether Shakspere or King Henry or Mr. Paul Gregg was
responsible for the accident.
One thing however, was clear. It was Bruno who had saved
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