ind tone; for directly after, Brace Norton was
thinking how sweet it would be to live, perhaps earning Isa Gernon's
love as well as her gratitude, for saving her sweet life; and with a
flush upon his cheek for his weak thoughts, Brace nerved himself for the
effort he was about to make.

With his right hand tightly clutching the rush tuft, he tried to thrust
his feet into the bank beneath; but in spite of a tremendous and
exhausting effort, the sole result was, that the portion of the edge he
clung to came away in his hand, and with the plunge, they were the next
instant both beneath the water. A few vigorous strokes, though, and
Brace was once more at the side with the half-fainting girl well
supported, as a bunch of rushes once more supplied him with a hold for
his clinging fingers.

"Oh, pray--pray save me!" murmured Isa, faintly, as a cold chill shot
through her, and her pale face grew almost ghastly.

"With Heaven's help I will!" exclaimed Brace, thickly, "or I'll die with
you!"

The words seemed to be forced from his lips by his strong emotion, and
he could perceive that she heard them. He knew, too, that she had
recognised him at the first. The words took their impassioned tone, in
spite of himself; and he repented, as he saw a faint flush of colour--it
might have been from indignation--rise to her cheeks.

But there was no time for dallying with thoughts of such engendering,
for he knew that every moment only robbed him of so much power, and he
prepared for another effort.

"Hold me tightly," he said. "Don't be afraid; only let me have both
hands at liberty, so that I may be able to drag myself out."

She did as he wished, and he struggled hard; but the weight clinging to
him frustrated every effort, and after five minutes' vain expenditure of
strength, Brace had great difficulty in finding firm hold for his grasp;
while his heart sank, as he found that what at first had seemed but a
trifling mishap, and an opportunity for displaying his knight-errantry,
now began to loom forth in proportions ominous to them both.

He looked in every direction now, where the tall reeds did not shut out
the view, for he was beginning to mistrust his own power; but there was
not a soul within sight. And now, for the first time, he raised his
voice, to cry loudly for help--despairingly, though, for he could not
think it possible that aid could be near. He called again and again;
but his voice seemed to be lost in the