ower part of the
valley, and disappeared from Teddy's sight.

The next moment there was a wild yelp from Puck as he gripped the
rabbit, and both tumbled over the bank of the river into the water,
which was previously concealed from view; the dog's bark being echoed
immediately afterwards by a cry of alarm from Teddy and a heavy plunge,
as he, too, fell into the swiftly-flowing stream, and was borne out from
the bank by the rapid current away towards the mill-dam below!

CHAPTER FIVE.

BLOWN UP.

"Well, I never!" panted out Jupp as he raced down the incline at a
headlong speed towards the spot where he had seen Teddy disappear, and
whence had come his choking cry of alarm and the splash he made as he
fell into the water. "The b'y'll be drownded 'fore I can reach him!"

But, such was his haste, that, at the same instant in which he uttered
these words--more to himself than for anyone else's benefit, although he
spoke aloud--the osiers at the foot of the slope parted on either side
before the impetuous rush of his body, giving him a momentary glimpse of
the river, with Teddy's clutching fingers appearing just above the
surface and vainly appealing for help as he was sinking for the second
time; so, without pausing, the velocity he had gained in his run down
the declivity carrying him on almost in spite of himself, Jupp took a
magnificent header off the bank. Then,--rising after his plunge, with a
couple of powerful strokes he reached the unconscious boy, whose
struggles had now ceased from exhaustion, and, gripping fast hold of one
of his little arms, he towed him ashore.

Another second and Jupp would have been too late, Teddy's nearly
lifeless little form having already been caught in the whirling eddy of
the mill-race. Even as it was, the force of the on-sweeping current was
so great that it taxed all Jupp's powers to the utmost to withstand
being carried over the weir as he made for the side slanting-wise, so as
not to weary himself out uselessly by trying to fight against the full
strength of the stream, which, swollen with the rains of April, was
resistless in its flow and volume.

Swimming on his side, however, and striking out grandly, Jupp succeeded
at length in vanquishing the current, or rather made it serve his
purpose; and, presently, grasping hold of the branch of an alder that
hung over the river at the point of the bend, he drew himself up on the
bank with one hand, holding poor Teddy still w