g fire of criticism from Fru Jensen and her daughters. He had
not, they said, observed the particular merits of many of the Danish
ladies who had been present at the dance of the previous evening, but
doubtless he was preoccupied.

"No," said Hardy, "I was not preoccupied. My difficulty is that I do
not know Danish well, and Herr Jensen has had the greatest difficulty
to understand me about horses; how, then, could I understand so
difficult a subject as a Danish lady?"

"Froken Jaeger says, you said that Froken Helga Lindal would make an
excellent wife," said Fru Jensen.

"Yes," said Hardy. "She asked me, and I said it was possible."

Hardy said this in so strong a manner that it was even apparent to
Herr Jensen that he did not wish the conversation extended, so Herr
Jensen proposed a cigar and an adjournment to his own room.

Hardy left at six o'clock, and rode to Vandstrup. On his way thither
an occurrence happened that Hardy never forgot.

Hardy, followed by Garth, had ridden on to within an English mile of
Vandstrup, when he saw a waggon overturned, and a man lying underneath
it. The horses were kicking in their harness, as they lay in the ditch
by the roadside. The waggon was the same as is usually employed by the
Danish farmer, for his farm work, and was heavy in construction. Hardy
galloped up, and found the man lying under the waggon evidently
seriously injured. He was a workman called Nils Rasmussen, and had
taken a load of turf, in company with another man with a similar load
in another waggon, to a village near Vandstrup. The turf discharged,
there was the opportunity of getting drunk; and the horses of both
waggons were driven hard down a slope in the road by their drunken
drivers, and coming in contact, Nils Rasmussen was thrown out, and the
waggon fell on him, whilst the struggling of the horses every moment
increased the serious injuries he was receiving.

Garth cut the horses free, and Nils Rasmussen was taken from under the
waggon. Several people came running up, and one of them rode Hardy's
Danish horse for the district doctor. Hardy assisted in carrying the
injured man to his home, and sent Garth to the stables on Buffalo,
with instructions to come to Rasmussen's house for orders. It was
clear the case was serious from the first Hardy undressed the man, and
found that he had more than one limb broken, while from the froth and
blood in the mouth, internal injuries were present.

When Garth ret