Page:Stringer - Lonely O'Malley.djvu/394

 sleep, in which he had dreamed his flying-machine was breaking down on a cruise half-way to the moon, dazedly parted the thick apple branches and glanced down toward the river.

He heard the child's sudden, sharp little cry; he saw the log tip and roll and spin. A second later Pauline Augusta had disappeared from sight.

A groan went up from the women, helpless with the horror of it all. The old Captain tremblingly flung off his alpaca coat, and was tugging resolutely at his waistcoat.

"No, no, brother!" Miss Arabella cried, clinging to him madly. "You 're too old, too old,—you must n't do it!"

The old Captain broke away from her.

"By gad, ma'm—"

But that was as far as he got, for a sudden crisp little splash fell on the ears of the frantic group. A darting shadow, crowned with an unkempt halo of russet brown, had sped down the sloping bank and cut arrow-like into the quiet water. It had seemed like the swoop and dip of a kingfisher.

The watching group waited, motionless,