had to watch
her knees in the narrow passages between the trunks; and the vines
reached and caught at her. Sometimes the long-hanging limbs of the
young trees made an impassable barrier, and more than once she was
nearly dragged from the saddle. Shortly they came to the first fallen
log.

Mulvaney, Bill's horse, took it lightly; and the man turned to watch the
girl. Her horse stepped gingerly, making it without trouble. Then the
guide saw fit to give her a little good advice.

"Kick Buster in the ribs just before you come to a log," he said.
"He'll jump 'em then. It's a whole lot safer--if he tries to step
over 'em he's apt to get his foot caught and give you a bad fall."

Virginia looked up coldly. She wasn't accustomed to being spoken to in
quite this tone of voice, particularly by an employee. But she saw his
sober eyes and immediately forgot her resentment. And she found an
actual delight in bounding over the next obstruction.

"And there's one more thing," the guide went on. "I've ridden plenty of
horses, and I've found there's only one way to handle 'em. I'm going to
try a new way to-day, because there's a lady in the party. But if I'm
tried too heavy----"

"Go ahead," the girl replied, smiling. "I suppose you mean--to
swear."

"Not just to swear. Call names. These horses won't think we're present
if we don't swear at 'em. And the only name they know refers to them is
one that casts slurs upon their ancestry, but I'll try to avoid it
to-day. I suppose I can make a roaring sound that sounds enough like it
to fool the horses."

Virginia was naturally alert and quick-witted, and she needed both of
these traits now. The guide helped her all he could, warning her of
approaching thickets; yet the first hour was a grim initiation to the
woods. Lounsbury was having even a more difficult time. He was afraid
of his horse, to start with--and this is never an auspicious
beginning. A frightened rider means a nervous, excited animal--and
nervousness and excitement are unhealthy qualities in the Selkirks.
Neither put trust in the other, and Lounsbury's cruel, lashing blows
with the long bridle ends only made matters worse. The horse leaped and
plunged, slipped badly on the hills, progressed awkwardly over the
fallen logs, and flew into wild panic when he came to the quagmires.
The man's temper fell far below the danger point in the first hour, and
he was savage and desperate before half of the afte