his person. Hand him over to justice."

"Good gracious, Agatha, what are you thinking about? The poor man only
wants to wash the things out."

"Then I should like to know why he could not tell me so in plain
English," said Miss Terry, retiring discomfited amidst shouts of
laughter from the whole party, including the supposed thief.

After tea they all set out on a grand beetle-hunting expedition, and
so intent were they upon this fascinating pursuit that they did not
note the flight of time, till suddenly Mildred, pulling out her watch,
gave a pretty cry of alarm.

"Do you know what time it is, good people? Half-past six, and the
Custances are to dine with us at a quarter-past-seven. It will take us
a good hour to get down; what _shall_ we do?"

"I know," said Arthur, "there are two sledges just below; I saw them
as we came up. They will take us down to Funchal in a quarter of an
hour, and we can get to the Quinta by about seven."

"Arthur, you are invaluable; the very thing. Come on, all of you,
quick."

Now these sledges are peculiar to Madeira, being made on the principle
of the bullock car, with the difference that they travel down the
smooth, stone-paved roadways by their own momentum, guided by two
skilled conductors, each with one foot naked to prevent his slipping,
who hold the ropes, and when the sledge begins to travel more swiftly
than they can follow, mount upon the projecting ends of the runners
and are carried with it. By means of the swift and exhilarating rush
of these sledges, the traveller traverses the distance, that it takes
some hours to climb, in a very few minutes. Indeed, his journey up and
down may be very well compared with that of the well-known British
sailor who took five hours to get up Majuba mountain, but, according
to his own forcibly told story, came down again with an almost
incredible rapidity. It may therefore be imagined that sledge-
travelling in Madeira is not very well suited to nervous voyagers.

Miss Terry had at times seen these wheelless vehicles shoot from the
top of a mountain to the bottom like a balloon with the gas out, and
had also heard of occasional accidents in connection with them.
Stoutly she vowed that nothing should induce her to trust her neck to
one of them.

"But you must, Agatha, or else be left behind. They are as safe as a
church, and I can't leave the Custances to wait till half-past eight
for dinner. Come, get in. Arthur can go in front and hol