[Footnote 33: Midsummer day on the Equator, September 21.]




CHAPTER XII

THE BOY OF THE ADVENTUROUS HEART

_Chalmers, the Boy_

(Born 1841, martyred 1901)


The rain had poured down in such torrents that even the hardy boys of
Inverary in Scotland had been driven indoors. Now the sky had cleared,
and the sun was shining again after the great storm. The boys were out
again, and a group of them were walking toward the little stream of
Aray which tumbled through the glen down to Loch Fyne. But the stream
was "little" no longer.

As the boys came near to the place called "The Three Bridges," where
a rough wooden bridge crossed the torrent, they walked faster towards
the stream, for they could hear it roaring in a perfect flood which
shook the timbers of the bridge. The great rainfall was running from
the hills through a thousand streamlets into the main torrent.

Suddenly there came a shout and a scream. A boy dashed toward them
saying that one of his schoolmates had fallen into the rushing water,
and that the full spate of the Aray was carrying him away down to the