to proceed, entered the stream without farther hesitation than the
delay necessary to take off his buskins. The elder person, at the
same moment, hallooed to him to beware, adding, in a lower tone,
to his companion, "Mortdieu -- gossip -- you have made another
mistake -- this is not the Bohemian chatterer."

But the intimation to the youth came too late. He either did not
hear or could not profit by it, being already in the deep stream.
To one less alert and practised in the exercise of swimming, death
had been certain, for the brook was both deep and strong.

"By Saint Anne! but he is a proper youth," said the elder man.
"Run, gossip, and help your blunder, by giving him aid, if thou
canst. He belongs to thine own troop -- if old saws speak truth,
water will not drown him."

Indeed, the young traveller swam so strongly, and buffeted the
waves so well, that, notwithstanding the strength of the current,
he was carried but a little way down from the ordinary landing
place.

By this time the younger of the two strangers was hurrying down
to the shore to render assistance, while the other followed him at
a graver pace, saying to himself as he approached, "I knew water
would never drown that young fellow. -- By my halidome [originally
something regarded as sacred, as a relic; formerly much used
in solemn oaths], he is ashore, and grasps his pole! -- If I make
not the more haste, he will beat my gossip for the only charitable
action which I ever saw him perform, or attempt to perform, in the
whole course of his life."