ses to the tree
beside her, "did I not rescue you from punishment for dire naughtiness
in the pantry and beg Aunt Euphemia to pardon you, and then go for the
horses, which Reuben was too busy to saddle.

"Yes, my own dear Betty," cried the small sinner, emerging suddenly from
the shelter and seizing her round the waist, "but you know this
soberness is but 'skin-deep,' as Chloe says, and you need not cease to
be merry because you are sixteen since yesterday. Come, let's find the
herbs," and joining hands the two ran swiftly off to the shore, Betty
tucking up her habit with easy grace as she went. The occupant of the
covert raised his head carefully and looked after the pair, the sound of
their voices growing faint as they pushed their way through the
undergrowth which intercepted their progress.

"What a lovely creature!" he ejaculated, raising himself on one elbow.
"I wonder who she is, and how she comes in this wild neighborhood.
Perhaps I am not so very far off my road after all; they must have come
from a not very distant home, for the horses are not even wet this warm
day. Egad, that mare looks as if she had plenty of speed in her; 't
would not be a bad idea to throw my leg over her back and be off, and so
distance those who even now may be pursuing me." He half rose as the
thought occurred to him, but in an instant sank back under the leaves.

"How would her mistress fare without her?" he said ruefully "'Tis not to
be thought of; they may be miles from home, even here, and I am too much
a squire of dames to take such unkind advantage. There must be some
other way out of my present dilemma than this," and rolling over on the
mixture of grass and dry leaves which formed his resting-place he lay
still and began to ponder.

Half an hour passed; the shadows began to deepen as the sun crept down
in the sky, and the horses whinnied at each other as if to remind their
absent riders that supper-time was approaching. But the girls did not
return, and the thoughts which occupied the young wanderer were so
engrossing that he did not hear a cry which began faintly and then rose
to a shriek agonized enough to pierce his reverie.

"Good heavens!" he cried, springing to his feet, as borne on the summer
wind the frantic supplication came to him--

"Help, help! oh, will nobody come!" and then the sobbing cry
again--"help!"

Tim tall muscular form straightened itself and sped through the bushes,
crushing them down on either s