the bridge an' skidded an' struck a telephone pole, an' I went
right on over the stone fence an' the clay bank an' lit on my head
in the water. Dan Pettigrew lit beside me. Then came Lizzie an'
Sam--they fairly rained into the river. I looked up to see if
Aleck was comin', but he wasn't. Sam, bein' so heavy, had stopped
quicker an' hit in shallow water near the shore, but, as luck would
have it, the bottom was soft an' he had come down feet foremost,
an' a broken leg an' some bad bruises were all he could boast of.
Lizzie was in hysterics, but seemed to be unhurt. Dan an' I got
'em out on the shore, an' left 'em cryin' side by side, an'
scrambled up the bank to find Aleck. He had aimed too low an' hit
the wall, an' was stunned, an' apparently, for the time, dead as a
herrin' on the farther side of it. I removed the ten
one-thousand-dollar bills from his person to prevent complications
an' tenderly laid him down. Then he came to very sudden.

"'Stop!' he murmured. 'You're robbin' me.'

"'Well, you begun it,' I says. 'Don't judge me hastily. I'm a
philanthropist. I'm goin' to leave you yer liberty an' a hundred
dollars. You take it an' get. If you ever return to Connecticut
I'll arrest you at sight.'

"I gave him the money an' called the officer, who had just come up.
A traveller in a large tourin'-car had halted near us.

"'Put him into that car an' take him to Chesterville,' I said.

"He limped to the car an' left without a word.