Page:Little Ellie and Other Tales (1850).djvu/75

Rh Soldier, that was as dangerous as descending a mighty cataract.

He was already so near that to stop was impossible; the boat shot forward; the poor leaden Soldier stood as upright as he could, for no one could say of him that he had even winked his eyes. The boat whirled round three, four times, and was filled with water up to the very edge. Sink it must. The soldier was up to his neck in water: deeper and deeper sank the boat, and looser and looser became the paper. At last the water went over the Soldier’s head; he thought of the pretty little Dancer that he was never to see again, and the words of the song,

sounded in his ears. Then the paper fell to pieces, the leaden Soldier tumbled out—but at that very moment a large fish swallowed him.

Well to be sure, how dark it was! It was darker here than in the drain; and,