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.
第一课?千钧一发的冒险
三四个小伙子站在宏伟的弗吉尼亚自然大桥的桥洞下。他们看到桥墩的石头上刻着许多人名，便决定要把自己的名字也加进去。刻完后，其中一个小伙子心里一直有个疯狂的想法，他想把自己的名字刻得比别人的都高！他的朋友劝解他放弃这样危险的行为，但一点用也没有。他是个桀骜不驯又无所顾忌的年轻人；他怕自己要是现在放弃了，人家就会把他看成是懦夫，于是他决定要一直攀爬上桥墩的石头上，直到听到人们的欢呼声为止，而不是听从他那群胆小的朋友的劝阻。
他其中一位朋友跑到村里头，把他危险的处境告诉了他父亲。剩下的人则四处寻求帮助，不一会儿工夫，就来了上百个人聚集在桥洞下，还有的挤在桥上，屏住呼吸，来观看那惊心动魄的一幕。这可怜的孩子一下子就辨认出了他父亲的声音，他父亲正声嘶力竭地喊着：“威廉！威廉！别往下看！你妈妈、亨利，还有哈利亚特都在为你祈祷呢！别往下看！眼睛往上看！”
男孩没有往下看。他的眼睛紧盯着天空的方向，年轻的心一心想着上帝是那里的主宰。他再一次抓起刀子，又刻下一笔，又攀爬了一步，他本来已经离着地面几百英尺，这样地面上的人们就更加难以帮他了。
太阳已经快要下山了。人们把身子探出桥，手里抓着绳子。但在那最长的绳子能够得到这男孩之前，他还得再刻上五十刀！再过两分钟，一切就结束了！那刀子已经被磨损得只剩下半寸的样子了，而男孩子开始头昏目眩起来。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笔了。那一笔将是他的最后一笔。
当最后一笔刻完的时候，他的刀——他那恪尽职守的刀子——从他那已经毫无感觉的手中掉落了下来，一路滚落下峭壁，落在了他母亲的脚边！油然而生的绝望情绪马上在下面的人群中蔓延开来，但所有人都鸦雀无声，一动不动。在三百英尺的高度，那热忱投入的男孩已经绝望的心升华了起来，他闭上眼睛等待着上帝的
召唤。
啊！——一声喊叫从头顶传来！有个人把身子横亘在桥上，抓住了男孩的头和肩膀。说时迟那时快，那带套索的绳子一下子就够到了往下坠的男孩。大家都屏住呼吸。昏昏沉沉的男孩使出吃奶的力气，把胳膊套进了绳套里。
……
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