JASPER. 109

 

Mr. Woodman's plans about crossing the river.

rains. Mr. Woodman had some doubt whether it was
safe to attempt to ford it. Jasper thought it was decidedly
unsafe to attempt it :—and he told Mr. Woodman so.”

“Why! could Jasper talk?” asked Malleville, aston-
ished.

“Oh no,” said Beechnut, “he could not speak words,
but he could communicate what he thought very well by
signs and barking. So when Mr. Woodman came down
to the bank of the river, and looked as if he were prepar-
ing to cross it, Jasper would run to and fro on the edge,
barking at the current, and then run back from the water
again,—endeavouring by this conduct to dissuade Mr.
Woodman from the attempt to go over. But Mr. Wood-
man thought that he must go, and so he drove his horse
into the stream. When Jasper found that his master
would go, he followed on.

“As I have already told you,” continued Beechnut,
“ there were two channels to cross, one on each side of the
island. The farthest one, that is, the one beyond the
island from where Mr. Woodman came to the river, was
the deepest. Mr. Woodman knew that it was so, and
this was one reason why he determined to make an at~-
tempt to cross the river. He thought he could certainly
get over the first channel, so as to reach the island, and
then he could better judge whether it would be prudent
to attempt the second. He concluded that if he found, on
going over to the island, that the water was very deep, he
could easily then come back again, and go home, without
going into the most dangerous part of the river at all.

“He found the water in the first channel very deep,—
deeper in fact than he had expected. Still he succeeded
in getting across and in reaching the island in safety.