"He pretended to be sleeping, and now and again blinked up at me through half-closed lids.
"Then the thought suddenly came to me, 'Now, if you were Martha, what should you do?' and I was so startled by it that my blood gushed up hotly into my face.
"'Are you easily frightened, little one?' he asked.
"I shook my head.
"'Then come here!'
"'I am here at your side.'
"'Place yourself in front of me.'
"I did so. My feet almost touched the flat edge of the stone.
"Suddenly he raised himself, clasped me as quick as lightning about the waist, and at the same moment I felt myself suspended in mid-air above the water. I looked at him and laughed.
"'Let me tell you.' said he, 'that it is not by any means a laughing matter. If I let you drop----'