rink a moment, then tilted
forward and shot downward, turning over and over and spilling Eeny-Meeny
and her piney bed into the river. As the spill occurred, Hinpoha and
Gladys and Sahwah and Katherine, who were playing the parts of the
bereaved companions of the sacrificed maiden, tore their hair and
uttered blood-curdling shrieks of despair.

Just at that moment, with a suddenness which took their breath away, a
man appeared on the river bank, coming apparently from the woods, and
cried loudly, "Be calm! I will save her!" And, flinging his coat off, he
sprang into the water before anyone could say Jack Robinson. He swam out
to the form bobbing in the current, her arm thrown up as if for help;
grasped that arm and then uttered a long, choking sputter, shoved
Eeny-Meeny violently away from him and swam back to shore. They made
valiant attempts not to laugh when he crawled out on the bank, dripping
and disgusted.

From his appearance he was an Englishman. He was dressed in a sort of
golfing suit, with short, baggy trousers and long, checked stockings. He
had sandy whiskers which were dripping water in a stream. Such a
ludicrous sight he was as he stood there, with his once natty suit all
limp and clinging, that, one by one, the boys and girls dissolved into
helpless giggles. Uncle Teddy managed to hold on to his composure long
enough to explain how it happened that Eeny-Meeny went over the falls in
such a spectacular manner. The Englishman stared at him open mouthed.

"Well, really!" he drawled at last in a voice which expressed doubts as
to their sanity, and the few who had maintained straight faces so far
lost control of themselves.

Uncle Teddy offered the would-be rescuer dry clothing, but he declined,
saying he and a friend had pitched a tent only a quarter of a mile up
the river and he would hasten back there. The two of them were on a
walking trip, he explained, making frequent stops where there was
fishing. While his friend had been cooking supper this evening he had
strolled off by himself and had come through the woods just in time to
see Eeny-Meeny go over the falls. In the failing light he had mistaken
her for a real person.

"Oh, I say," he called back after he had started to take his departure,
"if you should happen to run into my friend anywhere would you be so
kind as not to mention this--er--mistake of mine? He is something of a
joker and I am afraid he would repeat the story where it would cause me