Bessie among the Mountains

by Joanna H. Mathews

"Ruthven! O Ruthven!" was the wild cry that rang out on the still summer air, followed by a shriek of terror from the two little girls, and a groan from the Colonel's lips. Then a stillness like death itself, and the next moment Uncle Ruthven stood among them.

But—how very strange Maggie and Bessie thought it—he did not seem frightened at all. His face was very white, to be sure; but his voice was steady and quiet, only it did not sound like Uncle Ruthven's voice, but like that of some stranger, and as if it came from far, far away.

"She is holding by the bushes below," he said; and, as he spoke, he threw himself flat upon the ground, half on, half over, the edge of the precipice, and, reaching one arm, he succeeded in grasping, and but just grasping, the wrist of his wife.

For it was as he had said. As she slid downwards, Mrs. Stanton had clutched wildly at the bushes growing below, and had succeeded in laying hold of them. But the bushes were slender, and not deeply rooted in the loose gravelly soil, and though Mrs. Stanton was a small, slight woman, even her light weight was too much for them, and they were just giving way, when her husband's strong, firm grasp was upon her wrist. Yes, he had her fast, holding back the precious life; but for how long? and what was to be done next?

Mr. Stanton dared not rise upon his feet or even upon his knees, and so try to draw her up; he was a large, heavy man; the treacherous edge, which would not bear his wife's far lighter weight, would give way beneath his, and send them both to a fearful death below. Even now loose pebbles and gravel were falling down, and striking upon the sweet, upturned face which looked to him for help. Had her feet even been upon the slope, or the ledge beneath it, he might have drawn her up; but they were below it, hanging over that terrible precipice.

In vain did the Colonel, kneeling beside his brother-in-law, clasp his arms about his waist, and so try to draw both him and his sister to a place of safety; the ground only broke away more as the added strain came upon Mr. Stanton's arm, and a fresh shower of gravel and stone went rolling down upon the poor sufferer below.

Then came her voice in feeble tones. "Ruthven, it is of no use, love; my clothes are caught and I cannot free them. Let me go, my husband: it is only throwing away your life."

"Not while God gives life and power to this hand. Courage, my darling, courage. Go, some of you, for help, ropes and men," he said, turning his haggard face towards the others, and still speaking in that strange tone, so unlike his own.

In an instant, Mrs. Bradford was far up the road on her way to the house. To her little girls she seemed scarcely to touch the ground; to herself, it seemed as though leaden weights were upon her feet, and that she made no way at all. Just as she reached the lower end of the lake, she met her husband coming down to join them. Scarcely pausing, she spoke half a dozen words which sent him in haste on his way; then herself sped on towards the house.