asped; it was all she could say.

"It can't----" The minister got no further, and he fingered his watch
from force of habit.

"It's----" some one said and broke off. Then followed an excited
murmur. "What's Peter going to do?"

The young giant had darted off down the trail in the direction of the
approaching sleigh. He lurched heavily over the snow, his ungainly
body rolling to his gait, but he was covering ground in much the same
way that a racing elephant might. His stride carried him along at a
great pace. The onlookers wondered and exclaimed, their gaze
alternating in amazement between the two objects, the oncoming sleigh
and the huge lurching figure of the boy.

Now the sleigh was near enough for them to note the truth of Peter's
statement. The horses, ungoverned by any guiding hand, were tearing
along at a desperate pace. The cutter bumped and swayed in a
threatening manner; now it was lifted bodily from the trail as its
runners struck the banked sides of the furrows; now it balanced on one
side, hovering between overturning and righting itself, now on the
other; then again it would jerk forward with a rush on to the heels of
the affrighted horses with maddening effect. The poor brutes stretched
themselves wildly to escape from their terror. On they came amidst a
whirl of flying snow, and Peter had halted beside the trail awaiting
them.

Those who were watching saw the boy move outside the beaten track.
Already the panting of the runaways could be heard by those looking
on. If the animals were not stayed in their mad career they must
inevitably crash into the school-house or collide with the sleighs at
the tying-posts. There was no chance of their leaving the beaten
trail, for they were prairie horses.

Some of the men, as the realization of this fact dawned upon them,
hurried away to remove their possessions to some more secure position,
but most of them remained gaping at the runaway team.

Now they saw Peter crouch down, beating the snow under his feet to
give himself a firm footing. Barely fifty yards separated him from the
sleigh. He settled himself into an attitude as though about to spring.
Nearer drew the sleigh. The boy's position was fraught with the
greatest danger. The onlookers held their breath. What did he
contemplate? Peter had methods peculiar to himself, and those who
looked wondered. Nearer--nearer came the horses. A moment more and the
boy was lost in the cloud of snow which rose benea