sank back in the cushions.

"Foot's painful," he said, with a faint smile. "Good gracious!"

"What's the matter?" asked Miss Tipping, alarmed by his manner.

"I've left my pipe in the garden," said Flower, rising, "the one you
gave me. I wouldn't lose it for the world."

"I'll get it," said Miss Tipping, springing out of the carriage.
"Whereabouts did you leave it, do you think?"

"By the bee-hives," said Flower, pale with excitement, as he heard Mrs.
Tipping and Dick coming up from the cellar. "Make haste; somebody might
take it."

Miss Tipping darted into the house, and immediately afterwards the
Tippings ascended from the cellar, attended by the landlady.

"Driver," said Flower, sharply.

"Sir," said the man, looking round and tenderly rubbing his back.

"Take that to the lady who has just gone in, at once," gabbled Flower;
"hurry up."

For want of anything better, he handed the astonished driver his
tobacco-pouch, and waved him to the house. The lad descended from his
perch and ran to the door just as Dick Tipping, giving vent to a sharp
cry, was rushing out. The cry acted on the skipper like magic, and,
snatching up the whip, he gave the horse a cut in which was concentrated
the fears of the last fortnight and the hopes of his future lifetime.

The animal sprang forward madly just as Dick Tipping, who had pushed
the driver out of the way, rushed out in pursuit. There was a hard white
road in front and it took it at a gallop, the vehicle rocking from side
to side behind it as Flower played on it with the whip. Tipping was
close behind, and the driver a good second. Flower, leaving the horse to
take care of itself for a time, stood upright in the carriage and hurled
cushions at his foremost pursuer. The third cushion was long and
limp, and, falling on end in front of him, twined itself round his
swift-moving legs and brought him heavily to the ground.

"He's winded," said Flower, as he saw the coachman stop and help the
other man slowly to his feet; "shows what a cushion can do."

He clambered onto the seat, as a bend in the road shut the others from
his sight, and gathering up the reins, gave himself over to the joyous
feeling of his new-found liberty as they rushed through the air. His
ideas of driving were elementary, and his mode of turning corners was
to turn them quickly and get it over; but he drove on for miles without
mishap, and, the horse having dropped to a steady trot, began to
consider h