water bubbling and thundering in his ears as he was
swept away; two or three great struggles to reach the side, and then it
seemed like going to sleep, and waking to find himself in his bed, with
three faces leaning over him, and everything else misty and bewildered.

On the morning of the fourth day, Fred was up again and out with his
cousins before breakfast, getting their feet well soaked by the dewy
grass out in the cedar-field as they took it in turns to have a ride
upon the pony--one boy running by his side once up and down the field,
and holding the pony by his halter. He was a capital quiet fellow, was
old Dumpling, and put up with the tricks of his young masters as
good-naturedly as possibly, and, on the whole, rather seeming to join in
the fun, for he stood perfectly still by their side while they climbed
up the fence, and from thence on to his back, and then went along at a
jig-jog trot, just as they wished him. As for Harry and Philip, they
were well used to being upon his back; but when it came to Fred's turn,
he prepared to mount with considerable trepidation.

It might almost have been thought that, after the last unpleasant
adventure, Fred would have been very diffident in joining in any of his
cousins' rather boisterous amusements; but he had a most wholesome dread
of being looked upon as a coward: the very idea of being despised by his
cousins rendered him ready to dare anything; so that, no matter what
they had pressed him to, he would most probably have attempted it,
however strongly his reason or inclination might have prompted him
otherwise; so, when it came to his turn, he followed the instructions of
his cousins, and made a sort of half leap or vault upon the pony's back;
but in so doing he overshot the mark, and went scrambling down, head
first, on the other side. The pony, however, never moved, and as Fred
was not hurt, he climbed the fence for another try, and this time came
down just in the right place, but in doing so, stuck his heels so
tightly into the nag's side, that, without waiting for the leader to
take hold of the halter, away he started at a canter, greatly to Fred's
dismay, for the bumping he received seemed something fearful to him, and
he had no small difficulty in keeping his seat; but keep it he did, and
the pony cantered away till nearly at the bottom of the field, when he
subsided into a trot, the boys behind in full chase, laughing and
cheering away as hard as they could