little way off. The Dane went to him at once. He knelt down by the
side of his fallen foe, and pressed the flask to his lips.

"Drink," said he, "for thy need is greater than mine."

Hardly had he spoken these words, when the Swede raised himself on his
elbow. He pulled a pistol from his pocket, and shot at the man who
would have be-friend-ed him. The bullet grazed the Dane's shoulder,
but did not do him much harm.

"Ah, you rascal!" he cried. "I was going to befriend you, and you
repay me by trying to kill me. Now I will punish you. I would have
given you all the water, but now you shall have only half." And with
that he drank the half of it, and then gave the rest to the Swede.

[Illustration]

When the King of the Danes heard about this, he sent for the soldier
and had him tell the story just as it was.

"Why did you spare the life of the Swede after he had tried to kill
you?" asked the king.

"Because, sir," said the soldier, "I could never kill a wounded
enemy."

"Then you deserve to be a no-ble-man," said the king. And he
re-ward-ed him by making him a knight, and giving him a noble title.

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.

More than three hundred years ago there lived in England a brave man
whose name was Sir Humphrey Gil-bert. At that time there were no white
people in this country of ours. The land was covered with forests; and
where there are now great cities and fine farms there were only trees
and swamps among which roamed wild In-di-ans and wild beasts.

Sir Hum-phrey Gilbert was one of the first men who tried to make a
set-tle-ment in A-mer-i-ca. Twice did he bring men and ships over the
sea, and twice did he fail, and sail back for England. The second
time, he was on a little ship called the "Squirrel." Another ship,
called the "Golden Hind," was not far away. When they were three days
from land, the wind failed, and the ships lay floating on the waves.
Then at night the air grew very cold. A breeze sprang up from the
east. Great white ice-bergs came drifting around them. In the morning
the little ships were almost lost among the floating mountains of ice.
The men on the "Hind" saw Sir Humphrey sitting on the deck of the
"Squirrel" with an open book in his hand. He called to them and
said,--

"Be brave, my friends! We are as near heaven on the sea as on the
land."

Night came again. It was a stormy night, with mist and rain. All at
once the men on the "Hind" saw the lights on board of the "