on. When he was led up, flushed with confusion, to Mr. Brook, amid
the cheers of the crowd of those in the room, he listened with head hung
down to the remarks of his employer.

When that gentleman finished and held out the watch and chain, Jack drew
back and held up his head.

"I doan't loike it, sir; I pushed Harry in, and in course I went down to
pick him out; besides, Harry's my chum, he be; was it loikely I should
stand by and he drowning? I tell 'ee, sir, that you ain't said a word
about the lass Nelly Hardy; she had pluck, she had. The boys ran away or
stood and stared, but she came down as quiet as may be. I tell 'ee, sir,
her face was pale, but she was as steady and as still as a man could ha'
been, and did as I told her wi'out stopping for a moment and wi'out as
much as saying a word. She'd ha' gone down if I'd told her to. Where be
ye, Nelly Hardy? coom oot and let me show ye to Mr. Brook."

But Nelly, who was indeed in the building, had shrunk away when Jack
began to speak, and having gained the door, was on the point of flying,
when she was seized and brought forward, looking shamefaced and sullen.

"That be her, sir," Jack said triumphantly, "and I say this watch and
chain ought to be hers, for she did much more for a lass than I did for
a boy, and had no call to do't as I had."

"I cannot give them to her, Jack," Mr. Brook said, "for the watch has
been subscribed for you; but as a token of my appreciation of the
bravery and presence of mind she has shown, I will myself present her
with a silver watch and chain, with an inscription saying why it was
given to her, and this she will, I am sure, value all her life."

Perhaps she would, but at present her only thought was to get away. Her
hair was all rough, she had on a tattered dress, and had only slipped in
when those in charge of the door were intent upon hearing Mr. Brook's
address. Without a word of thanks, the instant the hands restraining her
were loosed she dived into the crowd and escaped like a bird from a
snare. Satisfied that justice had been done, Jack now said a few words
of thanks to his employer and the subscribers to his present, and the
meeting then broke up, Jack returning with Bill Haden and his mother,
both beaming with delight.

"I be roight down glad, lad, I doan't know as I've been so glad since
Juno's dam won the first prize for pure-bred bull-dogs at the Birmingham
show. It seems joost the same sort o' thing, doan't it, Jane?"