houghts like these kept possession of his
heart; for he was brought rudely back to things before him by the rapid
sound of horses' feet. The next moment, round a turn of the road came a
saddled horse without a rider, the broken bridle dangling from its head.

"Stop her, if you please," cried a young lady, who was following at the
top of her speed.

Frank immediately crossed the path of the runaway animal, and succeeded
in catching it.

"I hope you have not been thrown or hurt," he said, as he restored it to
its owner.

"Oh no, thank you," she replied. "I'm so much obliged to you. We--that
is, some friends and myself--are up in these hills to-day, on a
picnicking excursion. My mare was hung up to a tree, and while we were
looking after the provisions, she broke her bridle and got off."

Several gentlemen now came running up. They thanked Frank for his
timely help, and asked him if he would not come and join their party.
There was a heartiness and cheeriness of manner about them which made it
impossible for him to say, "No," so he assented, and followed them to an
open space a short way off the road, round the next turn, where a very
merry company were gathered among the trees, with the scarlet-
embroidered sward for their table.

"Pray, take a seat among us," said one of the gentlemen who had invited
him. "I'll secure your horse--is he tolerably quiet?"

"Perfectly so; but you'd better take his saddle off, lest he should be
inclined to indulge in a roll."

"I am sure, sir, I owe you many thanks," said the young lady whose horse
he had caught; "for, if you had not stopped my mare, she would have been
half-way to Adelaide by this time, and one of us must have walked."

Frank made a suitable reply, and was at once quite at ease with his new
companions. There were four gentlemen and as many ladies, the latter in
the prime of life, and full of spirits, which the stranger's presence
did not check. No spot could be more lovely than the one chosen for
their open-air meal. Before them was the deep, sloping chasm, revealing
the distant town and ocean, and clothed on either side with unbroken
forests. All around was the brilliant carpeting of flowers; overhead,
the intensely blue sky, latticed here and there with the interlacing
boughs of trees. The dinner or luncheon was spread out on a white
cloth, and consisted of the usual abundance of fowls, pies, and tarts,
proper to such occasions, and flanked by what wa