sp the pommel. Don't drag the rein! Miss Latimer, keep a light hand!
What, tired already? Well, I won't work you too hard just at first."

A little shaken and agitated by the unwonted exercise, the girls
checked their horses to a walk. They were none of them practised
riders, and all were glad that no more was expected from them for the
present. Honor, however, was some way on in front, and, instead of
pulling up, as she was told, she gave her horse a switch across the
flank and a tweak on the ear, such as she had been accustomed to bestow
on her old pony at home. The effect was magical. Seaside hacks are not
generally prone to run away, but this one had a little spirit left in
him; he resented his rider's liberties, and, feeling the soft grass
under his feet, fled as if he were on a racecourse.

"Miss Fitzgerald! Miss Fitzgerald!" shouted Mr. Townsend, but he might
as well have spoken to the wind. Honor had found her opportunity, and
was quick to seize it. Instead of attempting to pull up Victor, she let
him have his head. She had no desire to check his pace, the motion was
so exhilarating; and she could not resist the temptation to display her
horsemanship before the rest of the class. The unfortunate master dared
not desert his other nervous and inexperienced pupils to give chase,
and in a few minutes she had left the remainder of the party a mile
behind. They could see her tearing past the coastguard station, where
an old man with a telescope yelled wildly to her to stop; past a
windmill, where children and chickens scrambled in hot haste out of her
path; and away over the moor, until she quite disappeared from sight.

The girls were in a panic of alarm. Mr. Townsend turned rather white,
but preserved his presence of mind, and, leading his little company
straight to the coastguard station, made all dismount, and tied up the
horses. Then he set out himself in pursuit of the runaway.

Honor, meanwhile, continued her "John Gilpin" galop. On and on she
flew, her hair, as the fairy tales say, "whistling in the wind". It
occurred to her at last that she might be going too far, and she made
an effort to pull up. But it was of no avail; Victor had got the bit
firmly between his teeth, and nothing could hold him. Luckily, the girl
did not lose her nerve, but waited until she could tire him out, and
get him in hand again; and I verily believe she would have succeeded in
mastering him, and turning him safely on his homeward