Three or four lads are standing in the channel below the great Natural Bridge of Virginia. They see hundreds of names carved in the limestone buttresses, and resolve to add theirs to the number. This done, one of them is seized with the mad ambition of carving his name higher than the highest there! His companions try to dissuade him from attempting so dangerous a feat, but in vain. He is a wild, reckless youth; and afraid now to yield, lest he should be thought a coward, he carves his way up and up the limestone rock, till he can hear the voices, but not the Words of his terror-stricken playmates.
One of them runs off to the village, and tells the boy’s father of his perilous situation. Others go for help in other directions; and ere long there are hundreds of people standing in the rocky channel below, and hundreds on the bridge above, all holding their breath, and awaiting the fearful catastrophe. The poor boy can just distinguish the tones of his father, who is shouting with all the energy of despair,—“William! William! don’t look down! Your mother, and Henry, and Harriet are all here praying for you! Don’t look down! Keep your eyes towards the top!”
The boy does not look down. His eye is fixed towards heaven, and his young heart on Him who reigns there. He grasps again his knife. He cuts another niche, and another foot is added to the hundreds that remove him from the reach of human help from below.
The sun is half way down in the west. Men are leaning over the outer edge of the bridge with ropes in their hands. But fifty more niches must be cut before the longest rope can reach the boy! Two minutes more, and all will be over. That blade is worn to the last half inch. The boy’s head reels. His last hope is dying in his heart, his life must hang upon the next niche he cuts. That niche will be his last.
At the last cut he makes, his knife—his faithful knife—drops from his little nerveless hand, and ringing down the precipice, falls at his mother’s feet! An involuntary groan of despair runs through the crowd below, and all is still as the grave. At the height of nearly three hundred feet, the devoted boy lifts his hopeless heart and closing eyes to commend his soul to God.
Hark!—a shout falls on his ears from above! A man who is lying with half his length over the bridge, has caught a glimpse of the boy’s head and shoulders. Quick as thought the noosed rope is within reach of the sinking youth. No one breathes. With a faint, convulsive effort, the swooning boy drops his arm into the noose.
Not a lip moves while he is dangling over that fearful abyss; but when a sturdy arm reaches down and draws up the lad, and holds him up before the tearful, breathless multitude—such shouting and such leaping and weeping for joy never greeted a human being so recovered from the jaws of death.
第一課?千鈞一發(fā)的冒險
三四個小伙子站在宏偉的弗吉尼亞自然大橋的橋洞下。他們看到橋墩的石頭上刻著許多人名，便決定要把自己的名字也加進去。刻完后，其中一個小伙子心里一直有個瘋狂的想法，他想把自己的名字刻得比別人的都高！他的朋友勸解他放棄這樣危險的行為，但一點用也沒有。他是個桀驁不馴又無所顧忌的年輕人；他怕自己要是現(xiàn)在放棄了，人家就會把他看成是懦夫，于是他決定要一直攀爬上橋墩的石頭上，直到聽到人們的歡呼聲為止，而不是聽從他那群膽小的朋友的勸阻。
他其中一位朋友跑到村里頭，把他危險的處境告訴了他父親。剩下的人則四處尋求幫助，不一會兒工夫，就來了上百個人聚集在橋洞下，還有的擠在橋上，屏住呼吸，來觀看那驚心動魄的一幕。這可憐的孩子一下子就辨認出了他父親的聲音，他父親正聲嘶力竭地喊著：“威廉！威廉！別往下看！你媽媽、亨利，還有哈利亞特都在為你祈禱呢！別往下看！眼睛往上看！”
男孩沒有往下看。他的眼睛緊盯著天空的方向，年輕的心一心想著上帝是那里的主宰。他再一次抓起刀子，又刻下一筆，又攀爬了一步，他本來已經(jīng)離著地面幾百英尺，這樣地面上的人們就更加難以幫他了。
太陽已經(jīng)快要下山了。人們把身子探出橋，手里抓著繩子。但在那最長的繩子能夠得到這男孩之前，他還得再刻上五十刀！再過兩分鐘，一切就結(jié)束了！那刀子已經(jīng)被磨損得只剩下半寸的樣子了，而男孩子開始頭昏目眩起來。他最后的希望就是即使死去也要完成自己的心愿，而他的生命就完全系在他要刻的下一筆了。那一筆將是他的最后一筆。
當最后一筆刻完的時候，他的刀——他那恪盡職守的刀子——從他那已經(jīng)毫無感覺的手中掉落了下來，一路滾落下峭壁，落在了他母親的腳邊！油然而生的絕望情緒馬上在下面的人群中蔓延開來，但所有人都鴉雀無聲，一動不動。在三百英尺的高度，那熱忱投入的男孩已經(jīng)絕望的心升華了起來，他閉上眼睛等待著上帝的
召喚。
啊！——一聲喊叫從頭頂傳來！有個人把身子橫亙在橋上，抓住了男孩的頭和肩膀。說時遲那時快，那帶套索的繩子一下子就夠到了往下墜的男孩。大家都屏住呼吸。昏昏沉沉的男孩使出吃奶的力氣，把胳膊套進了繩套里。
……