e prize. I knew you'd ride well when you
tried."

Ernest was, however, not quite right in his conjectures. Ellis stuck on
very well, but as to guiding the pony, he had no notion of it. As long,
however, as the donkeys, and cart and carriage-horses, were before them,
he went very well, but they were caught up before they reached the clump
of trees round which they were to turn. They reached the clump, but
Ellis, to his friend's dismay, shot past it. The pony's home lay in
that direction, and seeing a long green glade right before him, he got
his bit between his teeth, and away he went, scampering off as hard as
he could lay his feet to the soft springy grass. Ellis held on with all
his might. He in vain tried to turn the pony's head. He felt that he
was run away with, and had lost all control over the animal.

Ernest saw the pony bolt. At first he was inclined to laugh. Then he
recollected with dismay that there was a very steep hill just outside
the wood, and a little beyond it a deep chalk-pit, with precipitous
sides, down which he feared that the pony, if it became alarmed by
anything, might in its excitement plunge. How to stop Ellis was the
question! To follow him he knew would only increase the speed of the
pony. There was, he remembered, a short cut to the precipice through a
green narrow path to the right. Without a moment's hesitation he
galloped down it. Buttar, divining his object, followed. The rest, not
seeing where they had gone, fancied that they had turned the clump, and
continued the race.

Mousey, Ernest's pony, behaved magnificently. On he galloped, as if he
knew that a matter of importance depended on his speed. Some boys
running out of the wood fancied that he was running away, and, clapping
their hands, tried to turn him aside, but he heeded them not. The wood
was at length cleared. Ernest looked up the road to his left, in the
hopes of seeing Ellis coming along it, but he was afraid that he had
already passed. On the ground were the marks of hoofs, which looked, he
thought, very like those made by a pony at full speed; so he and Buttar
galloped along the road they thought he must have taken. Down the steep
hill they went at full speed, keeping a tight rein, however, on the
mouths of their little steeds. They thought they made out poor Ellis in
the distance.

"He sticks on bravely, at all events," cried Ernest. "He's a fellow to
be proud of as a friend. Oh! he must not c