e--stared long and intently.

"I think he will know me the next time he sees me," thought Tom, and
he boldly returned the glance of the stranger.

The bolts were ready when the inventor's son called at the machine
shop a second time, and making a package of them Tom fastened it to
the saddle of his bicycle. He started for home at a fast pace, and
was just turning from a cross road into the main highway when he saw
ahead of him a woman driving a light wagon. As the sun flashed on
Tom's shining wheel the horse gave a sudden leap, swerved to one
side, and then bolted down the dusty stretch, the woman screaming at
the top of her voice.

"A runaway!" cried Tom; "and partly my fault, too!"

Waiting not an instant the lad bent over his handle-bars and pedaled
with all his force. His bicycle seemed fairly to leap forward after
the galloping horse.

"Sit still! Don't jump out! Don't jump!" yelled the young inventor.
"I'll try to catch him!" for the woman was standing up in front of
the seat and leaning forward, as if about to leap from the wagon.

"She's lost her head," thought Tom. "No wonder! That's a skittish
horse."

Faster and faster he rode, bending all his energies to overtake the
animal. The wagon was swaying from side to side, and more than once
the woman just saved herself from being thrown out by grasping the
edge of the seat. She found that her standing position was a
dangerous one and crouched on the bottom of the swaying vehicle.

"That's better!" shouted Tom, but it is doubtful if she heard him,
for the rattling of the wagon and the hoofbeats of the horse drowned
all other sounds. "Sit still!" he shouted. "I'll stop the horse for
you!"

Trying to imagine himself in a desperate race, in order to excite
himself to greater speed, Tom continued on. He was now even with the
tail-board of the wagon, and slowly creeping up. The woman was all
huddled up in a lump.

"Grab the reins! Grab the reins!" shouted Tom. "Saw on the bit! That
will stop him!"

The occupant of the wagon turned to look at the lad. Tom saw that
she was a handsome young lady. "Grab the reins!" he cried again.
"Pull hard!"

"I--I can't!" she answered frightenedly. "They have dropped down!
Oh, do please stop the horse! I'm so--so frightened!"

"I'll stop him!" declared the youth firmly, and he set his teeth
hard. Then he saw the reason the fair driver could not grasp the
lines. They had slipped over the dashboard and were trailing on the