e into the saddle. But the
girls had now all galloped up the road, and, with no inducement to make
a display of agility and strength, he braced his toe in the stirrup, and
leisurely mounted.

Mr. Kerchey was a little ahead of him, making too ludicrous an
appearance to be easily described. He looked like an animated bag of
flour, Chester said, awkwardly balanced, jolting painfully, and seeming
momently ready to tumble off.

"Oh, you do bravely!" cried the young man, dashing past him, on a smart
gallop.

Mr. Kerchey groaned, and grasped the saddle with his left hand,
desperately, resolved to ride faster.

The party had halted a little way up the road, and Chester made haste to
send Sarah back to keep Mr. Kerchey company. At first she refused to go,
but conceiving the idea of some fun, consented to the arrangement, and
rode to meet her admirer.

In order that he might not observe the mirth indulged at his expense,
the rest of the party galloped on, Chester riding by the side of the
sociable Jane Dustan.

"What a delightful creature this is!" cried Sarah, wheeling sharply
around Mr. Kerchey. "I could ride him night and day without wearying."

"Ah! glad to h--h--hear it!" said the amateur farmer, still holding the
saddle with a fearful grasp.

"I see you are very careful of your horse," she added, letting her
animal prance daintily on before. "Is he lame?"

"No--not--not exactly----"

"Ha! ha! I see! You are preserving his wind in order to outstrip us
towards the close of the ride! I shall look out for you, Mr. Kerchey!"

"I--beg--to--assure--you--" replied the tortured man, each word jolted
out of his lungs by the hard-trotting horse, "I--have no--no such
intention."

"How I envy you the advantages of living in a city!" exclaimed Sarah.
"You have riding-schools there; you must have enjoyed them a great deal,
Mr. Kerchey."

If, on ordinary occasions, it was difficult for the amateur farmer to
express his ideas, what shall we say of him in his present painful
situation? All his faculties were called into activity by the
threatening danger. His own horse was beginning to prance and amble
sidewise; and it was only by the exercise of great vigilance that he
kept his balance at all. Let the reader endeavor to carry on a sprightly
conversation with a saucy girl and add up a long column of figures at
the same time, and he may be able to form a dim conception of the ordeal
through which Mr. Kerchey was compelled to