and in a few more the horn and the rattling wheels approached with great
velocity towards the two equestrians. George would have jumped off to
save himself from being run over, but the donkey saved him for the
present the trouble. All his energies were suddenly roused, and he
darted forward in a pelting gallop; the butcher's pony did the same.
Away they both flew before the leaders of the stage, scarcely distancing
them by a horse's length, and all the passengers thought that mischief
was inevitable. A gentleman on the box begged the coachman to pull in,
but the coachman seemed to enjoy the fun, and only whipped on his
horses. The pony and the donkey were still galloping furiously, both
their riders keeping their seats. Butchers' boys always seem glued to
their saddles, so that there appeared nothing astonishing in Jem
Rattle's not getting a fall; but how George, without his saddle, and not
much accustomed to riding, sat so long was something more remarkable.
Whether he might have got to the end of his race without accident if his
father and mother had not now appeared by the side of the road it is
impossible to say; but certain it is that the sight of them diverted the
attention which had before been entirely given to keeping his eye
steadily before him. At the same instant the donkey gave a little curve
out of the line in which he had been going, and most providential was it
that he did so, for by this inclination George was thrown sufficiently
to the right of the road to clear the wheels of the coach. The pony had
given in some few minutes before, and the donkey, having once checked
himself, stopped suddenly, and stood quietly by the roadside as if
nothing had happened. The gentleman on the box now insisted upon the
coachman's drawing up, to see if the young gentleman had sustained any
injury; and Mr. and Mrs. Danvers, in a state of harassing alarm, also
hastened to approach the spot.

Mr. and Mrs. Danvers were more alarmed than George was hurt; he
certainly got a few bruises, but he received no serious injury. He
immediately jumped on his legs, and relieved the anxiety of his parents,
when, after Mr. Danvers had thanked the gentleman for his kind
interference, and joined with him in condemning the coachman for not
having before checked his horses, the coach drove on, and George joined
his father and mother. The butcher boy was commissioned, with the
promise of a shilling, to bring back the donkey to Mr. Danvers' fie