ween high
banks, which led to Kingscote entering the road on the west side of the
park at right angles, and very near Mr. Fortescue's lodge-gates.

In the field to my right several colts were grazing, and when they caught
sight of Tickle-me-Quick trotting up the lane they took it into their
heads to have an impromptu race among themselves. Neighing loudly, they
set off at full gallop. Without asking my leave, Tickle-me-Quick followed
suit. I tried to stop her. I might as well have tried to stop an
avalanche. So, making a virtue of necessity, I let her go, thinking that
before she reached the top of the lane she would have had quite enough,
and I should be able to pull her up without difficulty.

The colts are soon left behind; but we can hear them galloping behind us,
and on goes the mare like the wind. I can now see the end of the lane, and
as the great park wall, twelve feet high, looms in sight, the horrible
thought flashes on my mind that unless I pull her up we shall both be
dashed to pieces; for to turn a sharp corner at the speed we are going is
quite out of the question.

I make another effort, sawing the mare's mouth till it bleeds, and
tightening the reins till they are fit to break.

All in vain; she puts her head down and gallops on, if possible more madly
than before. Still larger looms that terrible wall; death stares me in the
face, and for the first time in my life I undergo the intense agony of
mortal terror.

We are now at the end of the lane. There is one chance only, and that the
most desperate, of saving my life. I slip my feet from the stirrups, and
when Tickle-me-Quick is within two or three strides of the wall, I drop
the reins and throw myself from her back. Then all is darkness.

CHAPTER III.

MR. FORTESCUE'S PROPOSAL.

"Where am I?"

I feel as if I were in a strait-jacket. One of my arms is immovable, my
head is bandaged, and when I try to turn I suffer excruciating pain.

"Where am I?"

"Oh, you have wakened up!" says somebody with a foreign accent, and a dark
face bends over me. The light is dim and my sight weak, and but for his
grizzled mustache I might have taken the speaker for a woman, his ears
being adorned with large gold rings.

"Where are you? You are in the house of Senor Fortescue."

"And the mare?"

"The mare broke her wicked head against the park wall, and she has gone to
the kennels to be eaten by the dogs."

"Already? How long is it since?"

"It wa