On a bright morning, a school boy sauntered along the sea-beach to bathe, accompanied by his dog, Dash. Bill thought himself a swimmer, so throwing down his deep-sea line, which he intended to use after bathing, he stripped himself of his clothes, and leaving Dash to watch, went in.
Before he had been in many minutes, one of those strong waves swept him from off his feet, and carried him out far beyond his depth. When Bill found himself being carried out, he gave a loud cry, which at once brought two men. In a moment they saw his danger, but as neither of them could swim, what could they do?
One picked up Bill’s fishing line, and unreeling it on the rock, was making a vain attempt to throw it to the drowning boy, when suddenly, Dash, who had been looking on the whole scene, as if he knew all that was happening, seized the reel between his teeth, and plunging into the sea, swam straight to the place where his young master was struggling to keep himself afloat.
One of the men made fast the end of the line around his waist, and eagerly waited for a sign from the other, who was watching the dog from a high point of the rock.
“Now!” shouted the man, when he saw Bill had taken hold of the reel— “pull gently,” and slowly the line was drawn to shore.
Do you think Bill ever forgot that deliverance? I know he did not, for I have heard him tell how much it resembled another, and far greater deliverance, when as a sinner, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour a short time after.
ML 08/06/1944