iving thing before. He determined, whatever might happen, to bid on her
and to buy her, whatever she might prove to be worth. He knew he had a
few thousand dollars in the bank--his inheritance from his mother, who
had died when he was a baby--and he might, perhaps, be able to persuade
his father to sanction the purchase. At any rate, he would have some
time to invent ways and means; for his father, Captain Carstens, was now
away on the great annual drill, and would not return for some weeks.

As a mere matter of form, he resolved to try the mare before bidding on
her; and slipping a coin into the groom's hand he asked for a saddle. It
turned out, however, that all the saddles were in use, and Erik had no
choice but to mount bareback.

"Ride her on the snaffle. She won't stand the curb," shouted the groom,
as the mare, after plunging to the right and to the left, darted through
the gate to the track, and, after kicking up a vast deal of tan-bark,
sped like a bullet down the race-course.

"Good gracious, how recklessly that boy rides!" one jockey observed to
another; "but he has got a good grip with his knees all the same."

"Yes, he sits like a daisy," the second replied, critically; "but mind
my word, Lady Clare will throw him yet. She never could stand anybody
but the princess on her back: and that was the reason her Royal Highness
was so fond of her. Mother of Moses, won't there be a grand rumpus when
she comes back again and finds Lady Clare gone! I should not like to be
in the shoes of the man who has ordered Lady Clare under the hammer."

"But look at the lad! I told you Lady Clare wouldn't stand no manner of
nonsense from boys."

"She is kicking like a Trojan! She'll make hash of him if he loses his
seat."

"Yes, but he sticks like a burr. That's a jewel of a lad, I tell ye. He
ought to have been a jockey."

Up the track came Lady Clare, black as the ace of spades, acting like
the Old Harry. Something had displeased her, obviously, and she held
Erik responsible for it. Possibly she had just waked up to the fact
that she, who had been the pet of a princess, was now being ridden by an
ordinary commoner. At all events, she had made up her mind to get rid
of the commoner without further ceremony. Putting her fine ears back and
dilating her nostrils, she suddenly gave a snort and a whisk with her
tail, and up went her heels toward the eternal stars--that is, if there
had been any stars visible just then. Everyb