At the foot of the hill on which the house was built, there was a lovely little river that was joined, just below, by a smooth stream from the back country, and where they met, the water, after a great deal of bubbling and splashing, fell over the steep rocks, some twenty feet down, forming a pretty cascade. The spray of this little water-fall arose like a white cloud, and gently sprinkled the surrounding rocks, where the children loved to play, although it was not a very safe resort, as the river was both deep and rapid below the fall. There was a thickly wooded hill on the other side, where, when the river was low, and easy to be crossed, many hours were spent in long tramps after delicate ferns and rare wild-flowers for Cousin Lillie's collections. But ferns and flowers were apt to be forgotten quickly if by chance Fred's bright eyes espied a squirrel or a woodchuck's hole at any spot along the way.

One would think these grand times out-of-doors were enough to make the little ones happy. So they were, but when the evenings, too, were filled with pleasure, their cup was quite overflowing. There were no end of games in the big parlor, where all joined in the fun. It was such a good parlor for games,—always room for more, especially children. One night there was a clematis party for them, and they were all dressed in white, with the clematis-vine, in full bloom, draped and festooned in every imaginable way on them. A very pretty scene it was. And another night, when the grownup folks had a sociable, the children were sent off to bed, but the music was so enticing that they got up and dressed themselves and crept down the back stairs, where, in a cramped-up party, they watched the fun, expecting, of course, when discovered, to be sent back to bed. But nobody had the heart to give such a command that evening, and so the little sinners were taken in among the merry-makers, and enjoyed the "Virginia reel" as much as anybody.

There was nothing to mar their pleasure from week to week, until, one day, an accident happened which would have brought the greatest sorrow that can happen to any of us, if it had not been for dear old ST. NICHOLAS.

Just above the place on the river-bank where the children most liked to play, ran the main road, which crossed the river over a pretty stone-bridge. The rocks were high and steep under the bridge, and the river, dashing over them, fell into a deep basin on the lower side, which formed quite a large pond.

Now this pond was a splendid place to sail a raft, and on the day I have mentioned, Fred and

cargoes of stones and sticks. They were becoming somewhat tired and hungry, and withal a little impatient, when Grace, in giving the raft a good start, fell into the water, and when she was pulled out, Mamma had to take her up to the house, bidding Fred to follow soon. He was getting his last load of stones along to a good landing-place, when the raft grounded on a great rock, and after much exertion he pushed it off into the basin near the bridge. But in giving the last shove with his pole he slipped, and without a cry disappeared beneath the water!

With a scream of horror, Cousin Lillie, who had lingered behind to wait for Fred, sprang to the water's edge, but there was nothing to be seen, save a few bubbles, circling round and round, away out in the center of the pond. She called loudly for help, meanwhile preparing to plunge in after her little cousin, quite forgetting that she could not swim.

It seemed ages to the horrified girl before she saw Fred's head and face slowly rise to the surface. But then, to her great joy, he turned and, awkwardly enough, but surely, came toward her. She knew that he could not swim a stroke, but nevertheless he managed to keep his head above water, and soon came near enough for her to lay hold of his coat-collar. After much trouble, she finally pulled him out, and helped him over the slippery, treacherous stones to the grass, where he sank, exhausted.

Just then, Fred's mother came leisurely over the hill, to see what had detained the loiterers so long. One glance brought her hurriedly to the side of her dripping boy, to hear, with a terrified heart, of his narrow escape.

6

"Mamma," said Fred that afternoon, after he had been thoroughly rubbed and tucked up in bed, "I thought of you as I was going down, down so deep, and how sorry you would feel if I never came out of that awful hole, and then I thought of what it said in ST. NICHOLAS about treading water,' and I tried to do exactly what it said to do, and I came right up to the top, and found that I could move along toward the shore without letting my head go down under water at all. But it seemed as if something was pulling at my feet all the time, and it was awfully hard to get over to Lillic. If she had n't grabbed me, I think I'd have had to go down again, because I was so tired. I say, Lill, don't cry now! I'm all right-don't you see?—and you were just splendid!"

Fred was quite a hero for the remainder of the summer, and he never tired of telling his adventure. Cousin Lillie, too, had her share of praise,

CHAPTER XVII.

A BONFIRE.

THE young people's party at the house of Sarah Dykeman called for the whole house, and for the lighting up of the grounds besides. Not only were the Park boys there, and a fair selection of the "Wedgwoods,”-there were outsiders; and as for girls, Miss Offerman's Seminary and Madame Skinner's were well represented.

There was grand fun that evening, and everybody admitted that Sarah Dykeman's party was the best entertainment of the kind that ever had been known in Saltillo; especially when, after ice-cream and strawberries, came a stroll in the grounds among the Chinese lanterns, while Mr. Dykeman let off a lot of rockets and Roman candles.

When Jack Roberts and Otis Burr met the next morning, they had hardly said ten words about the party before Charley Ferris came up with: "I say, how are you fellows off for hooks and lines? Mr. Hayne says there 'll be a good chance to catch fish on Winnegay Lake. I'm going for tackle."

Before noon the question of buying fishing-tackle, besides fire-works for Fourth of July, had been settled by every boy of Mr. Hayne's school. That was one kind of preparation, but Jeff Carroll was not the boy to let his friends neglect another and more important one, for the great day.

"We must get ahead of the canal-bank boys," he said, "or we sha' n't find a loose box, nor a barrel, nor a board. Old Captain Singer has offered me five empty tar-barrels, but he says we must take them away this very night."

That was enough. There was an old shed, opening on the alley-way, back of Mr. Wright's house, that was just the place for storage, and before ten o'clock, it was nearly half full of all sorts of combustibles. Nobody seemed to know where all that stuff had come from, but there were ten tar-barrels instead of five.

There was yet a question to be settled, however. The Mayor had given permission for a big public bonfire in the great square in the middle of the city, and for another in front of the City Hall, the evening before the Fourth, and the evening of the Fourth itself. There would be police around these to prevent mischief, but orders had been given to put out any and all other bonfires.

"Of course," said Jeff. "It said there must be no bonfires in the streets."

"But we don't want a street. There's the vacant lot back of the blacksmith's shop."

"The very place!" said Jeff. "Don't say a word until the fire 's lit."

In consequence of that remark, there was mystery in the conduct and speech of the Park boys throughout the following day. Even after supper, and while the Wedgwood boys and the canal-bank crowd and a good many others were giving their best attention to the regular and duly authorized blazes, not a member of Mr. Hayne's school was to be seen among them. They even took their barrels over, one at a time, and worked so silently that the world beyond the blacksmith's shop knew nothing about the matter until there had arisen a huge pile of material in the middle of the vacant lot. The barrels were set on end in the center-five at the bottom, three on these, and two perched on top. Then the empty dry-goods boxes, boards, broken lumber of every sort and kind, were carefully piled around the barrels, and the thing was ready.

"We'll show them," began Charley Ferris, triumphantly; but at that moment a shrill voice came out of the darkness near them: "Come on, boys! Here's lots of stuff, all ready!"

It was a miscellaneous mob of youngsters from other parts of the city, on a hunt for fuel for the regular fires.

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Keep 'em off, boys," exclaimed Jeff. "All of you pitch in and keep 'em off for half a minute." "Steady, boys,” said Jack Roberts, as if he were in command of a company of soldiers. "Don't let them break through." Jeff was squirming in toward the tar-barrels, lighting a match and a wisp of paper as he went. Presently he muttered:

"That one 's alight. Now another. Two! That has caught tiptop! Three! That will spread. Now," said he, rising and turning about, "I'd like to see them run away with those barrels." The shout of the outside discoverer had been promptly answered by his companions, and they had come racing up with the purpose and expectation of making a big seizure. It was a great disappointment, therefore, to find their way blocked by a dozen resolute boys.

"We 're bound to have it, even if we have to

as he flourished a thick stick; and he was sup

VOL. VIII.-61.