ather not!" returned Gipsy. "When I'm dared to do a thing, I do it--or
have a good try, at any rate. If I'm not galloping round the field in
ten minutes, you may count me done. Hetty, you keep time!" And without
stopping to listen to any more remonstrances, she climbed over the
palings.

She had brought some bread with her, and she walked very gently towards
the colt, holding out her bait, and making a series of chirruping sounds
calculated to win its confidence. The rough little creature paused in
its task of tearing the grass, and eyed her doubtfully. It had been
petted, however, by the boys at the farm to which it belonged (a fact of
which Gipsy was well aware when she accepted Gladys's challenge), and
had a marked partiality for such dainties as bread, sugar, and carrots.
Though Gipsy was a stranger, it evidently considered she was familiar
with horse language, and encouraged by her chirrups it advanced
cautiously, rolling its eyes a little, and sniffing suspiciously. Gipsy
stood still, and without moving a muscle let it come quite near and
inspect her. She held the bread on the palm of her left hand; her right
hand was ready for action when necessary.

The row of girls leaning over the palings watched in dead silence.
Summoning up its courage, the colt stretched out its nose to take the
tempting bread. Gipsy let it get the coveted morsel well within its
lips, then seized the halter with her left hand and the long chestnut
mane with her right, and with a sudden agile bound and scramble flung
herself across its back. It was so quickly and neatly done that the
bystanders held their breath with admiration. Gipsy's horsemanship was
evidently no idle boast, if she could perform so difficult a feat of
gymnastics with such comparative ease. Meantime the colt, astonished and
enraged at finding a burden on its back, was trying buck-jumping, and
Gipsy had to cling to mane and halter to keep her seat. At this critical
moment the Seniors and the mistresses arrived on the scene. Miss
Poppleton's amazement and horror at finding one of her pupils mounted on
the back of an unbroken colt were almost too great for words.

"Stop her! Stop her!" she gasped wildly. "Oh, for pity's sake, somebody
stop her!"

But as it was certainly in nobody's power to stop her, Gipsy had to take
the consequences of her own foolhardy act. The colt, after an amount of
kicking and plunging, stood for an instant stockstill, then, rolling its
eyes, set o