er disappointment. "I
mean to have a ride, any way. Get up, Lady!"

Lady _did_ get up. She shook her head, pricked up her ears, and started
off at a beautiful canter across the fields.

"How lovely!" thought Dorry, especially pleased at that moment to see
several figures coming toward her from the Danby yard; "it's just like
flying!"

Whether Lady missed her master's firm grip upon the rein, or whether she
guessed her rider's thought, and was inspired by the sudden shouts and
hurrahs of the approaching boys, can never be known. Certain it is that
by the next moment Dorry, on Lady's back, was flying in
earnest,--flying at great speed round and round the field, but with
never an idea of falling off. Her first feeling was that her uncle and
Jack wouldn't be pleased if they knew the exact character of the ride.
Next came a sense of triumph, because she felt that Don and the rest
were seeing it all, and then a wild consciousness that her hat was off,
her hair streaming to the wind, and that she was keeping her seat for
dear life.

Lady's canter had become a run, and the run soon grew into a series of
leaps. Still Dorry kept her seat. Young as she was, she was a fearless
rider, and at first, as we have seen, rather enjoyed the prospect of a
tussle with Lady. But as the speed increased, Dorry found herself
growing deaf, dumb and blind in the breathless race. Still, if she could
only hold on, all would be well; she certainly could not consent to be
conquered before "those boys."

Lady seemed to go twenty feet in the air at every leap. There was no
merry shouting now. The little boys stood pale and breathless. Ben,
trying to hold Don back, was wondering what was to be done, and Charity
was wringing her hands.

"Oh, oh! She'll be thrown!" cried the girls.

[Illustration: DONALD TO THE RESCUE.]

"Not a bit of it!" insisted Donald. "I've seen Dot on a horse before."
But his looks betrayed his anxiety. "See! the mare's trying to throw her
now! But she can't do it--she can't do it! Dot understands herself, I
tell you,--Whoa-o!--Let me go!" and, breaking from Ben, he tore across
the field, through the opening in the hedge, and was on his pony's back
in a twinkling. How he did it, he never knew. He had heard Dorry
scream, and somehow that scream made him and his pony one. Together,
they flew over the field; with a steady, calm purpose, they cut across
Lady's course, and soon were at her side. Donald's "Hold on, Dot!" was
fol