m was a big stone fence, into which they might have crashed.

"Oh! Oh dear!" gasped Alice. "I--I think I'm going to faint!"

"Don't! Please don't, Miss!" begged Sandy, more frightened at that
prospect, evidently, than he had been at the runaway. "I--I don't
know what to do when ladies faint. Really I don't I--I never saw one
faint, Miss. Please don't!"

"All right--then I won't," laughed Alice, by an effort conquering her
inclination. But she felt a great weakness, now that the strain was
over, and she trembled as Sandy helped her down from the machine. In
another moment Ruth and the others came up, and Ruth clasped her
sister in her arms.

"You poor dear!" she whispered.

"Oh, I'm all right now," said Alice, bravely. "Perhaps there wasn't
as much danger as I imagined."

"There was a plenty," spoke Sandy, grimly.

The dog, the cause of all the mischief, had disappeared. The horses
were now quiet enough, though breathing hard, and soon they began to
nibble at the grass.

"Well, my dear girl, I'm sorry this happened!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell,
as he came running up. "I never would have let you go through that
scene if I had dreamed of any danger."

"No one could foresee that this was going to happen," returned
Alice, who was almost herself again. "I'm all right now, and we'll
finish the act, if you please."

"Oh, no!" cried Mr. Pertell. "I can't allow it. We'll substitute some
other scene."

"No," insisted Alice. "I'm not afraid, really, and I think the
picture will be a most effective one. Besides, it is almost finished.
We can go on from the point where the horses started to run; can't
we?" she asked Russ.

"Oh, yes," he agreed, with a look at the manager, "but----"

"Then I'm going to do it!" laughed Alice, gaily. "I'm not going to
back out just because the horses got a little frisky. They will be
quiet now; won't they, Sandy?" she asked.

"I think so, Miss--yes. That run took all the tucker out of 'em.
They'll be quiet now," and he rather backed away from Alice, as
though he feared she might, any moment, put into execution her threat
to faint.

"Alice, I'm not sure you ought to go on with this," spoke Ruth in a
low voice. "Papa might not like it."

"He wouldn't like me to begin a thing and not finish it," was the
younger girl's answer. "I'm not afraid, and I do hate to spoil a
film. Come, we'll try it over again," and she pluckily insisted on
it until, finally, Mr. Pertell gave in.

The horses wer