Page 78 - A Little Bush Maid

"He was nearly up to the log, when be made a sudden, last leap in the air,
and the quickness of it and his weight half threw me off my balance. T made

a hurried step on the log, and my right foot slipped into a huge, gaping
crack. Tt was only after T had made two or three ineffectual struggles to

release it that T found T was stuck.

"Well T didn’t realize the seriousness of the position for a few minutes," the

Hermit went on. "T could understand that T was wedged, but T certainly
never dreamed that T could not, by dint of manoeuvring, wriggle my foot

out of the crack. So T turned my attention to my big fish, and--standing in a
most uncomfortable position--managed to land him; and a beauty he was,
handsome as paint, with queer markings on his sides. T put him down

carefully, and then tried to free myself.

"And T tried--and tried--and tried--until T was tired out, and stiff and
hopeless. By that time it was nearly dark. After T had endeavoured
unsuccessfully to get the boot clear, T unlaced it, and tried to get my foot

out of it--but T was in a trifle too far for that, and try as T would T could not
get it free. The crack was rather on the side of the log. T could not get a

straight pull. Hurt? Yes, of course it hurt--not more from the pinching of
the log, which you may try any time by screwing your foot up in a vice,
than from my own wild efforts to get clear. My foot and ankle were stiff

and sore from my exertions long before T knocked off in despair. T might
have tried to cut the wood away, had T not left my knife on the bank, where

T was fishing first. T don’t know that it would have done much good,
anyhow.

"Well, T looked at the situation--in fact, T had been looking at it all the time.
Tt wasn’t a very cheering prospect, either. The more T pondered over it, the

less chance T saw of getting free. T had done all T could towards that end;
now it only remained to wait for something to ’turn up.’ And T was quite
aware that nothing was in the least likely to turn up, and also that in all

probability T would wear out some time before the log did.

"Night came on, and T was as hungry as a hunter--being a hunter, T knew
just how hungry that is. T hadn’t anything to eat except raw fish, and T