h gave me a chance to
observe Aggie carefully. I am not much of a horsewoman myself, having
never been on a horse before. But my father was fond of riding, and I
soon adapted myself to the horse's gait, especially when walking. On
level stretches, however, where Bill spurred his horse to a trot, I was
not so comfortable, and Aggie appeared to strike the saddle in a
different spot every time she descended.

Once, on her turning her profile to me in a glance of despair, I was
struck by the strange and collapsed appearance of her face. This was
explained, however, when my horse caught up to hers on a wider stretch
of road, and I saw that she had taken out her teeth and was holding them
in her hand.

"Al-almost swallowed them," she gasped. "Oh, Lizzie, to think of a
summer of this!"

At last we left the road and turned onto a footpath, which instantly
commenced to rise. Tish called back something about the beauties of
nature and riding over a carpet of flowers, but my horse was fording a
small stream at the time and I was too occupied to reply. The path--or
trail, which is what Bill called it--grew more steep, and I let go of
the lines and held to the horn of my saddle. The horses were climbing
like goats.

"Tish," Aggie called desperately, "I can't stand this. I'm going back!
I'm--Lordamighty!"

Fortunately Tish did not hear this. We had suddenly emerged on the brink
of a precipice. A two-foot path clung to the cliff, and along the very
edge of this the horses walked, looking down in an interested manner now
and then. My blood turned to water and I closed my eyes.

"Tish!" Aggie shrieked.

But the only effect of this was to start her horse into a trot. I had
closed my eyes, but I opened them in time to see Aggie give a wild
clutch and a low moan.

In a few moments the trail left the edge, and Aggie turned in her saddle
and looked back at me.

"I lost my lower set back there," she said. "They went over the edge. I
suppose they're falling yet."

"It's a good thing it wasn't the upper set," I said, to comfort her. "As
far as appearance goes--"

"Appearance!" she said bitterly. "Do you suppose we'll meet anybody but
desperadoes and Indians in a place like this? And not an egg with us, of
course."

The eggs referred to her diet, as at different times, when having her
teeth repaired, she can eat little else.

"Ham," she called back in a surly tone, "and hard tack, I suppose! I'll
starve, Lizzie, that's all. If