e thought of young Lochinvar;
she thought of the splendid ballads of her native land; she felt
thrilled with the excitement of the moment; but how ghastly white was
the moon, and how tremendously big and black the shadows where the moon
did not fall! Both girl and horse felt these brightnesses and these
shadows.

'Well,' thought Hollyhock, 'it will be soon over, my bonnie Lightning
Speed;' and the horse, disturbed a little at first by the unearthly
glamour over everything, soon calmed down and made straight for the
gorge up which rider and steed were to mount, in order to accomplish
that awful leap from rock to rock, which they must take twice in order
that Hollyhock might really feel that she had done a deed worthy of the
prize.

The horse evidently did not like the intense whiteness of the moon; but
when he got into the comparative darkness of the gorge, he calmed down
and became his usual self. Hollyhock did not attempt to urge him in
any way; she simply let him go his own gait, patting him several times
on his glossy coat. She knew well that the crucial moment would arrive
when they left the shadow of the gorge and stood forth, girl and horse,
prepared to take the leap, which, if by any chance Lightning Speed
rebelled, must be fatal to them both.

How terribly her head ached; how giddy, how almost silly, she felt!
But at any cost she must carry through her task, that task of hers to
which she had given her whole mind.

The ascent into the intensely bright moonlight was certainly not good
for the nerves of Lightning Speed, and when Hollyhock headed him for
the leap which he must take, just for a brief, very brief, moment he
hesitated. But he loved his mistress. Ah, how _much_ he loved her!
Would _he_ disobey when _she_ ordered him to do a certain deed? He had
never disobeyed her yet, never from the time she first mounted his back
and held his reins.

Her own eyes felt slightly dazzled by the pain in her head and the
intense whiteness of the scene. The roaring torrent below had never
sounded so ferociously loud. Holly leant forward and looked into
Lightning Speed's jet-black eyes, those eyes as soft as they were
black, as wonderfully full of feeling as were Holly's own bright,
loving eyes. The black eyes of the girl looked into the black eyes of
the horse.

She said aloud in her soft magnetic whisper, 'You 'll _do_ it, my
bonnie lad; you 'll take the leap, for the love of me, my bonnie,
bonnie lad;'