sk in a mechanical way, and had just placed my hand on the
instrument, when I was thrilled by a call which I would have recognized
among a thousand. Others heard and identified it also, and held their
breath. The next instant this message reached me:

"Dear Mr. Melville--Tell mother I am all right, but in
need of dry clothing.

"Ben Mayberry."

CHAPTER VII

A THRILLING VOYAGE

On the night that Ben Mayberry started across the bridge to deliver the
cipher message to Mr. Burkhill in Moorestown, he had reached the center
span before he felt he was in personal danger. The few lamps which
twinkled at long distances from each other were barely enough for him to
see where he was going, and they did little more than make the darkness
visible.

By the faint light he observed a carriage and single horse approaching.
The animal lifted his feet high, walked slowly, and snuffed the air as he
turned his head from side to side, like an intelligent creature which
feels he is approaching danger. The rattling of the narrow planks under
his hoofs and the carriage wheels could be heard above the roar and sweep
of the angry river beneath.

Suddenly the bridge trembled under a blow received from a gigantic piece
of ice, which went grinding and splashing with such violence that its
course could be followed by the bulging upward of the planks between Ben
and the horse.

"My gracious! this won't do," exclaimed the boy, more alarmed for the
vehicle and its occupants than for himself.

He ran forward to grasp the bridle of the horse with the purpose of
turning him back, when he saw that he had stopped of his own accord, and
was snorting with terror. Ben reached up to seize the bit, when he was
made dizzy by the abrupt lifting of the planking underneath, and was
thrown violently forward on his face.

The brave boy knew what it meant, and kept his senses about him. It was
utterly dark, and he was in the icy water with a terrified horse
struggling fiercely, and in danger of beating out the boy's brains with
his hoofs, while the shriek of the agonized mother rose above the horrid
din:

"Save my child--save my child!"

Fortunately for Ben Mayberry the bridge broke up in a very unusual
manner. Instead of the roof coming down upon him, it seemed to fall
apart, as did the narrow planking. Thus his movements were not interfered
with by the structure, and realizing what a desp