dles.
They lifted him off his feet, but he clung fast, and by the time the
Eastport side was reached the team was conquered.

"Hold them, hold them, please!" cried Mrs. Carrington, who, by the way, was
one of the richest residents of Westville. "I will get out."

"They are all right now," returned Ralph. "But I will hold them, if you
wish."

And he did so while the lady and her daughter alighted.

"Oh, how thankful I am to you," said the lady.

"And I, too," added her daughter, with a grateful glance that caused Ralph
to blush. "Oh, mamma," she went on, "I wonder what became of Mr. Paget?"

"It's hard to tell," returned Mrs. Carrington, coldly.

"Mr. Paget!" cried Ralph. "Do you mean Percy Paget?"

"Yes," replied Julia Carrington.

"Was he with you?"

"He was," answered Mrs. Carrington. "But at the first signs of danger he
sprang out of the carriage and left us to our fate!"

CHAPTER XII.

RALPH'S REWARD.

Ralph was much surprised to learn that Percy Paget had been in the
carriage.

"Was he hurt when he sprang out?" he asked of Mrs. Carrington.

"I am sure I do not know," returned the lady.

"I don't think so," put in her daughter, a beautiful miss of sixteen. "He
landed in the middle of a blackberry bush when he sprang from the front
seat."

"Then he was driving?"

"Yes, and it was his fault that the team ran away," returned Mrs.
Carrington. "I told him that they were very spirited, but in order to make
them do their best, as he thought, he used the whip upon them."

"Such a team as that don't need the whip much," put in old Bob Sanderson,
who had come up during the conversation, followed by Dan Pickley. "They're
too high-minded."

"That is just it," said the lady.

"It was gritty of Ralph to shut the bridge and stop 'em for you," went on
the old man.

"Indeed it was!" cried Julia Carrington. "I shall never forget your
bravery," she went on to Ralph. "You have done what many a man would be
afraid to undertake."

"So he has," put in her mother. "You are Ralph Nelson, the bridge tender, I
believe."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I used to know your father fairly well. You have taken his place since he
died."

"Yes, ma'am--up to the end of this week. Then Mr. Pickley takes it," and
Ralph pointed to the fellow he had mentioned.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. I am going to look for work somewhere."

"I trust you find something suitable."

"I'll take anything that pay