eemed on the point of doing at times when
he stood up so high that he almost went over backwards. This time,
after a moment of inaction, he reared again, and as he stood up with
his hind hoof in the stirrup the girth strap parted and the saddle
dropped from him. He jumped suddenly aside as if he were startled at
his success, and finding himself rid of it he gave a final flourish to
his heels and galloped away. The last Janet saw of him, he was going
over a knoll with a cow running on before. He seemed to be chasing it.
We are not at liberty to doubt that this was the case, for many a
cow-pony takes so much interest in his work that he will even crowd a
cow as if to bite her tail, and outdodge her every move. And so it is
possible that Billy, finding a cow running before him, took a little
turn at his trade.

Janet, hatless, her hair half-down and her chatelaine bag yawning open,
had thus far given little thought to her various belongings scattered
about in the grass; but now that the accident was all done happening
and she saw that she would have to continue her journey afoot, her
first concern was to get herself together again. Luckily the comb and
the hatpin had fallen in the same small territory with the hat and were
easily found--though the hatpin, standing upright amid the flowers, was
hard to distinguish for a while; and the contents of her bag, having
spilled almost together, were soon accounted for except a small
circular mirror. This was very difficult, but presently she caught the
flash of it in the grass and gathered it up also. And now,
ascertaining the condition of her hair, she went to the place that had
been made by her tumble from the horse, and seating herself in it
tailor-fashion, she set to work pulling out hairpins and dropping them
into her lap beside the rest of her property.

Having her hair in shape, she took up the hat. This part of her
apparel, which had been stepped on without detriment but needed
brushing, might be described as a man's hat in the sense that its maker
had not intended it for a young lady. It was a black hat, of soft
felt, with a wide flat rim which had been turned up in front and
fastened with a breastpin, a measure which had obviously been taken
because the rim caught the wind in such a way as to cause it to blow
down over the eyes--a thing which a true sombrero would not do. When
she had furbished it and put it on, she glanced at the image of herself
in her lap,