t for a drive this
afternoon and leave me in peace."

"A drive!" cried Mandy, "with one hundred and fifty miles behind me and
another hundred and fifty miles before me!"

"A ride then," said Cameron. "Moira, you used to be fond of riding."

"And am still," cried the girl, with sparkling eyes.

"A ride!" cried Mandy. "Great! This is the country for riding. But have
you a habit?"

"My habit is in one of my boxes," replied Moira.

"I can get a habit," said the doctor, "and two of them."

"That's settled, then," cried Mandy. "I am not very keen. We shall do
some shopping, Allan, you and I this afternoon and you two can go off
to the hills. The hills! th--ink of that, Moira, for a highlander!" She
glanced at Moira's face and read refusal there. "But I insist you must
go. A whole week in an awful stuffy train. This is the very thing for
you."

"Yes, the very thing, Moira," cried her brother. "We will have a long
talk this morning then in the afternoon we will do some business here,
Mandy and I, and you can go up the Bow."

"The Bow?"

"The Bow River. A glorious ride. Nothing like it even in Scotland, and
that's saying a good deal," said her brother with emphasis.

This arrangement appeared to give complete satisfaction to all parties
except those most immediately interested, but there seemed to be no very
sufficient reason with either to decline, hence they agreed.

CHAPTER IX

THE RIDE UP THE BOW

Having once agreed to the proposal of a ride up the Bow, the doctor
lost no time in making the necessary preparations. Half an hour later he
found himself in the stable consulting with Billy. His mood was gloomy
and his language reflected his mood. Gladly would he have escaped what
to him, he felt, would be a trying and prolonged ordeal. But he could
not do this without exciting the surprise of his friends and possibly
wounding the sensitive girl whom he would gladly give his life to serve.
He resolved that at all costs he would go through with the thing.

"I'll give her a good time, by Jingo! if I bust something," he muttered
as he walked up and down the stable picking out his mounts. "But for a
compound, double-opposed, self-adjusting jackass, I'm your choice. Lost
my first chance. Threw it clean away and queered myself with her first
shot. I say, Billy," he called, "come here."

"What's up, Doc?" said Billy.

"Kick me, Billy," said the doctor solemnly.

"Well now, Doc, I--"

"Kick me, Billy, good a