have accomplished--was diverting in the extreme. But when the
unfortunate creature did by some superhuman effort get the elongated toe
of his right elastic-sided boot upon the plank, and Berry found himself
unable to do more than haul him half-way to safety, so that for one long
hectic moment he hung writhing convulsively, frantically waving his left
leg in quest of a footing and alternately calling upon Heaven and
frenziedly charging his betrayer not to let go; when, as a result of
muscular vibration, his left boot worked loose and fell into the water
with a derisive plop; when Nobby, who had been watching the efforts of
the storming party in a fever of excitement, leapt from Adèle's arms on
to my shoulders and thence into the flood, and, beating its raving owner
by a matter of inches in a rush for the errant footgear, splashed his
triumphant way to the bank and, amid a hurricane of execration, bore his
waterlogged trophy into the undergrowth; then I bowed my head upon the
steering-wheel and, throwing decency to the winds, ran before the
tempest of Titanic laughter....

A wail of merriment from Adèle and a pressure upon my left arm brought
me to my senses.

Watch in hand, Mr. Dunkelsbaum was dancing upon a strip of turf by the
edge of the stream, bellowing at me to start the car.

"I do nod gare vor my bood, no. But der abboinmen'.... It vill nod vaid,
I say. An' it is now vive minute to begin. Ach! What vor 'ave you sid
dere an' laugh? My 'eart pleeds vor you. Ten tousand devil! But _vill
you sdard ub der auto?_"

The yell with which he delivered the last sentence changed to a howl as
his bootless foot alighted heavily upon an odd pebble, and Nobby peered