JASPER. 111

Plans. He enters the water. Jasper takes the bridle.

as he would need to use both of his hands in swimming,
he determined that when he dismounted he would give
Jasper the bridle, to carry in his mouth; ‘ for Jasper, he
said to himself, ‘does not need his mouth to help him in
his swimming.’

“ His plan being all thus arranged, Mr. Woodman drove
into the river. The horse walked along, the water
growing deeper and deeper all the time, until at length it
began to come over the saddle. Mr. Woodman then
threw the bridle off from the horse’s neck, and called Jas-
per to come and take it. Jasper came swimming up to Mr.
Woodman’s side, and took the bridle, and then struck off
toward the middle of the stream, while Mr. Woodman dis-
mounted on the other side, and attempted to swim behind.

“Mr. Woodman, however, found that he had not taken
into account how powerful the current of a river is,
when swollen by the rain. For as soon as he and his
horse lost their hold upon the bottom, they all began to
drift down the stream, horse, dog, and man, together.
They struggled against the current in vain. Finally they
gave up all hope of getting across the river, and thought
only of saving themselves from destruction. They strug-
gled on, but their struggles did but little good. They
were swept down the stream until they got entirely below
the island, and then were carried round in a grand
sweep, back toward the shore that they had originally
come from.

“ Now, it happened that, as is usual with islands upon
rivers, there was a long shoal extending below the island
in this river, which shoal was formed by the sand which
had been washed down the stream, and had lodged below
the island, where the water was comparatively still; and