to swim; so, upon a
fresh admonition from his rider, the animal entered the water, and
gallantly breasted the stream.

As the horse took the flood, William quietly slid off the saddle into
the water, and keeping a hold of one of the stirrups, easily swam by
his side. The noble animal, in a case like this, required no guiding
hand to direct him; his instinct told him, his master's object was to
reach the other bank; and he, therefore, swam direct for the point
desired. For a few seconds the quadruped and his owner kept on "the even
tenor of their way," and William congratulated himself on the favourable
prospect of his crossing; until they got more into the force of the
current, when he found it almost overwhelming. He, however, struggled
hard; while, alternately, he was almost swept from his hold by the force
of the stream, and nearly separated from his trusty steed by the vortex
of an eddy. But these difficulties were trifling compared to the one
that awaited him.

He had reached about the middle of the creek, when he perceived, with
consternation, the immense trunk of a tree floating down the stream,
with all the fearful velocity of the current; and in an instant his mind
comprehended the danger of his perilous position. The tree was one,
evidently, which had been long lying on the bank of the creek; and had
been dislodged, and carried off, as the water had risen in the present
flood. From its long recubation, it had become divested of its bark,
foliage, and smaller branches; leaving only its knarled trunk and
concomitant adjuncts, its crural like limbs. As it approached the
swimmers, it presented nothing to view, but the long surface of its
trunk, which floated supinely in the water; at the same time rushing on
with irresistible force, and having its branches concealed beneath the
surface of the flood. The stout heart of young Ferguson almost sickened
at the sight; however, he braced his nerves for a struggle, and urged
his faithful horse to its utmost, to escape the proximity of their
dangerous neighbour.

On it came, closer and closer, still watched by the anxious eye of
William; until he thought (as it almost reached him, angrily muttering,
with the subdued murmur of the flood, its disappointed expectations of a
victim) that he was safe. But his self-gratulation, at this moment, was
very inopportune; for, just as he uttered an exclamation of thankfulness
at his supposed escape, the tree approached the broad and