CHAPTER XI.
IN THE WILDERNESS.
When Sam went over the cliff, he thought of poor little Judie, and Tom and Joe, and, for their sake more than his own, took every precaution which might give him an additional chance of life.

He knew that he should fall into the creek, and that the blow, when he struck the water, would be a very severe one.

If he could keep his horse under him all the way, however, the animal and not he would be the chief sufferer.

Fearing that the horse would hesitate at the cliff, blunder, and throw him a somersault, perhaps falling on him, he held the beast's head high and urged him forward at full speed, and so, as we have seen, the horse's back was almost level as he leaped from the top of the bank.

Sam had no saddle or stirrups in which to become entangled, and as the horse struck the water fairly, the blow was not nearly so severe a shock to the boy as he had expected.