ngine instantly, and
the gears screamed as Mr. Crewe threw in his low speed. The five-year-old
whirled, and bolted down the road at a pace which would have seemed to
challenge a racing car; and the girl in the saddle, bending to the motion
of the horse, was seen to raise her hand in warning.

"Better stay whar you be," shouted one of the farmers; "don't go to
follerin' her. The hoes is runnin' away."

Mr. Crewe steered his car into the Fairview entrance, and backed into the
road again, facing the other way. He had decided to go home.

"That lady can take care of herself," he said, and started off towards
Leith, wondering how it was that Mr. Flint had not confided his recent
political troubles to his daughter.

"That hoss is ugly, sure enough," said the farmer who had spoken before.

Victoria flew on, down the narrow road. After twenty strides she did not
attempt to disguise from herself the fact that the five-year-old was in a
frenzy of fear, and running away. Victoria had been run away with before,
and having some knowledge of the animal she rode, she did not waste her
strength by pulling on the curb, but sought rather to quiet him with her
voice, which had no effect whatever. He was beyond appeal, his head was
down, and his ears trembling backwards and straining for a sound of the
terror that pursued him. The road ran through the forest, and Victoria
reflected that the grade, on the whole, was downward to the East
Tunbridge station, where the road crossed the track and took to the hills
beyond. Once among them, she would be safe--he might run as far, as he
pleased. But could she pass the station? She held a firm rein, and tried
to keep her mind clear.

Suddenly, at a slight bend of the road, the corner of the little red
building came in sight, some hundreds of yards ahead; and, on the side
where it stood, in the clearing, was a white mass which Victoria
recognized as a pile of lumber. She saw several men on the top of the
pile, standing motionless; she heard one of them shout; the horse
swerved, and she felt herself flung violently to the left.

Her first thought, after striking, was one of self-congratulation that
her safety stirrup and habit had behaved properly. Before she could rise,
a man was leaning over her--and in the instant she had the impression
that he was a friend. Other people had had this impression of him on
first acquaintance--his size, his genial, brick-red face, and his honest
blue eyes all d