of beer. They made him drowsy and stupid. The American
gentleman and his wife stayed long in the enameller's shop. He could
scarcely keep his eyes open. Presently, although he never moved a muscle
of his back and sat up stiff and straight as a poker, he was sound
asleep, and the reins in his grasp slipped lower and lower and lower.

The horse was an old one, stiffened and jaded by much hard travel, but it
had been a mettlesome one in its younger days, with the recollection of
many exciting adventures. Now, although it seemed half asleep, dreaming,
maybe, of the many jaunts it had taken with other American tourists, or
wondering if it were not time for it to have its noonday nose-bag, it was
really keeping one eye open, nervously watching some painters on the
sidewalk. They were putting up a scaffold against a building, in order
that they might paint the cornice.

Presently the very thing happened that the old horse had been expecting. A
heavy board fell from the scaffold with a crash, knocking over a ladder,
which fell into the street in front of the frightened animal. Now the old
horse had been in several runaways. Once it had been hurt by a falling
ladder, and it had never recovered from its fear of one. As this one fell
just under it's nose, all the old fright and pain that caused its first
runaway seemed to come back to its memory. In a frenzy of terror it
reared, plunged forward, then suddenly turned and dashed down the street.

The plunge and sudden turn threw the sleeping coachman from the box to
the street. With the lines dragging at its heels, the frightened horse
sped on. The Little Colonel, clutching frantically at the seat in front of
her, screamed at the horse to stop. She had been used to driving ever
since she was big enough to grasp the reins, and she felt that if she
could only reach the dragging lines, she could control the horse. But that
was impossible. All she could do was to cling to the seat as the carriage
whirled dizzily around corners, and wonder how many more frightful turns
it would make before she should be thrown out.

The white houses on either side seemed racing past them. Nurses ran,
screaming, to the pavements, dragging the baby-carriages out of the way.
Dogs barked and teams were jerked hastily aside. Some one dashed out of a
shop and threw his arms up in front of the horse to stop it, but, veering
to one side, it only plunged on the faster.

Lloyd's hat blew off. Her face turned wh