16 DIGGING A GRAVE

of the pavement. They were so intent on
their task that they did not see the stagger-
‘ing approach of a drunken woman; who,
with a yell of a wild Indian, fastened on
Nelly, who attempted to rush across the
street to.escape her. They staggered togeth-
er and fell, and at the same moment a cab
/ going at a faster pace than is justifiable in
a crowded thoroughfare, passed almost over
them. Peggy seized the horse’s head and
“held him firmly, the animal neither kicked
nor moved. A gentleman who was inside
sprang out, and there was no lack of ready
hands to endeavor to extricate ie sufferers.
The woman, somewhat sobered, had received —
but little injury, but poor Nelly’s temple
was bleeding from a frightful wound, and
she was quite insensible. Peggy, with ‘a
presence of mind that never deserted her,
placed her basket on the seat of the cab,
and eepared to lift in the insensible child,

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