I mean to have some
fun. I'm going to ride that mare back to the field!"

"Not you, Miss Dorry!" exclaimed Jack. "Take your own pony, an' your own
saddle, an' it's a go; but this 'ere mare'd be on her beam ends with you
in no time."

"Oh, no, she wouldn't, Jack! She knows me perfectly. Don't you, Lady?
Oh, do, Jack! That's a good Jack. _Please_ let me! Don's there, you
know."

Dorry said this as if Don were a regiment. By this time, the
side-saddle, yielding to her vigorous efforts, had clattered down from
its peg, with a peculiar buckle-and-leathery noise of its own.

"Won't you, Jack? Ah, _won't_ you?"

"No, miss, I won't!" said Jack, resolutely.

"Why, Jack, I've been on her before. Don't you know? There isn't a horse
on the place that could throw me. Uncle said so. Don't you remember?"

"So he did!" said Jack, his eyes sparkling proudly. "The Capt'n said
them very words. An'," glancing weakly at the mare, "she's standin' now
like a skiff in a calm. Not a breath in her sails--"

"Oh, do--_do_, Jack!" coaxed Dorry, seizing her advantage, "quick!
They're all in the lot yet. Here, put it on her!"

"I'm an old fool," muttered Jack to himself, as, hindered by Dorry's
busy touches, he proceeded to saddle the subdued animal; "but I can't
never refuse her nothin'--that's where it is. Easy now, miss!" as Dorry,
climbing up on the feed-box in laughing excitement, begged him to hurry
and let her mount. "Easy now. There! You're on, high and dry. Here"
(tugging at the girth), "let me tauten up a bit! Steady now! Don't try
no capers with her, Miss Dorry, and come back in a minute. Get up,
Lady!--get up!"

The mare left the stable so slowly and unwillingly, that Jack slapped
her flank gently as she moved off.

Jog, jog went Lady out through the wide stable doorway, across the yard
into the open field. Dorry, hastily arranging her skirts and settling
herself comfortably upon the grand but dingy saddle (it had been Aunt
Kate's in the days gone by), laughed to herself, thinking how astonished
they all must be to see her riding Lady back to them. For a moment she
playfully pretended to be unconscious of their gaze. Then she looked up.

Poor Dorry! Not a boy, not even Donald, had remained in the field! He
and the little Danbys were listening to one of Ben's stories of
adventure. Even the two horses and Don's pony were quietly nosing the
dry grass in search of green tufts.

"I don't care," she murmured gayly, overcoming h