he ears of the inmates of Flixworth Manor.

In a few moments all was bustle and excitement--lights flashing; feet
hurrying; voices shouting; and then a rush for the scene of danger and
trouble.

Outside the grounds in which the Manor-house stood were extensive grass
lands on either side of the public road. In the field nearest to the
drive-gate, and on the left as you entered it, was a deep and
precipitous chalk-pit, now disused. This pit was some little distance
from the road itself, and was not noticeable by persons unacquainted
with the locality. It had been there no one knew how long, and was a
favourite resort of adventurous children, a footpath to the village
passing not far from its edge. Towards this chalk-pit the startled
party of rescue from the house hurried with one consent, several of them
carrying lanterns or extemporised torches.

Ten o'clock was striking in the distant church-tower as they gathered
round the spot from which the cries for help had proceeded. A terrible
sight was dimly revealed to them in the uncertain glare cast upon it by
the lights which they carried. Hanging over the edge of the chalk-pit
was the squire's carriage. One horse had broken away from the traces,
but the other was struggling violently, and seemed likely, in its
plungings, to force the carriage still further over the precipitous side
of the pit. The coachman, who had managed to spring unharmed from the
box, was doing his best to restrain the violence of the terrified
animal, but with only partial success; while the situation of Mr
Huntingdon himself and of his maiden sister, who were inside the
carriage, was perilous and distressing in the extreme.

The accident had been caused by a strange and savage dog suddenly
springing at the horses' heads as the carriage was nearing the outer
gate. The night was very dark, and the horses, which were young and
full of spirit, being startled by the unexpected attack of the dog,
which belonged to some passing traveller, sprang violently out of the
road, and, easily crashing through the wooden fence, which happened to
be unusually weak just at that part, carried the carriage along with
them to the very edge of the chalk-pit, spite of all the efforts of the
coachman to hold them in; so that when the people of the Manor-house
came to the rescue, they found the carriage and its occupants in a most
critical position.

Not a moment was to be lost. Jim, the stable-boy, was quickly