terrifying look to the two girls, who, nevertheless, stood their ground,
Rose holding out the pan as the woman had bidden her.

"Oh, Rose! They'll run right over us!" exclaimed Anne, watching the
horses rushing toward them so swiftly.

CHAPTER X

AUNT ANNE ROSE

But the horses came to a sudden stop a few feet from where the girls
stood. Then one turned and rushed away, kicking up his heels as if to
say: "I'm not to be caught!"

Rose kept on calling "Range! Range!" and shaking the pan, and the other
horse stepped forward and stuck his nose into the dish.

"Grab hold of his mane, Anne. Quick! and hold on tight!" said Rose; "the
woman is coming now with the bridle."

Anne obeyed, holding fast to the black mane until Mrs. Pierce came
running from the barn, bringing a blanket and a bridle.

"I'm glad you caught Range," she said; "he's used to a saddle, and the
colt is wild as a deer." While she talked she was strapping the blanket
securely on the horse's back, and now slipped the bit into his mouth.

"The little girl better go," she continued, nodding toward Anne. "You
just climb that fence, and I'll lead Range alongside and you can get on
his back nicely. Sit boy fashion; it's safer. No sense as I can see in a
girl jest hanging on to one side of anything," and almost before she
knew it Anne found herself on the back of the black horse.

Mrs. Pierce, who had told the girls her name on the way to the pasture,
led Range out into the road and headed him in the right direction.

"If he don't go fast enough kick your heels against his sides and call
to him," directed the woman, handing the reins to Anne, and giving the
horse a sharp slap that sent him off at a good pace.

It seemed to Anne as if she were going up into the air, or over the
horse's head. But somehow she managed to keep on Range's back, though
she did not dare to give a backward look.

[Illustration: "YOU CAN GET ON HIS BACK"]

"Range will bring your pa back in no time, don't you worry," said Mrs.
Pierce, giving Rose a kindly pat on the shoulder; then exclaiming, "The
bread!" she ran back to the house, leaving Rose looking down the road,
and wondering, a little fearfully, if Anne would reach the big beech
tree without being thrown into the road.

Then she looked the other way, in the direction of Boston, and wondered
what would befall Lady.

"Come in, my dear, out of this hot sun," Mrs. Pierce called from the
doorway, and Rose went slowly