ered Tommy.

"Not yet," reassured Harriet.

"Don't be frightened," called back the guide encouragingly. "Jim can
hold any hosses that ever chewed a bit. We'll be on the bridge in a
minute; then they can thrash all they want to. Look out!"

There followed a crash, a breaking, splintering sound as the right rear
wheel of the carry-all swerved into the side of the covered bridge a
few inches from the outer end. The wheel put a hole through the siding
of the bridge. It was fortunate for the carry-all that the wheel had
not swerved a second earlier. Had it done so, the carry-all must have
been wrecked on the stout post at the outer end of the long bridge.

What had so startled the horses none of the occupants of the carry-all
knew. The driver knew that they had had a narrow escape from being
hurled down an embankment. It was a bad place for horses to take
fright. He had managed, however, to pick the team up by the reins and
set them down in the middle of the road, where they remained but a few
seconds before they were swerving to one side again, then they began
leaping and galloping through the long, covered bridge.

Once more a rear wheel raked the boards. The girls cried out, fearing
that they would be hurled through the siding and down into the river.
They were clinging to the sides of the vehicle, gripping them firmly
with their hands.

"Don't lose your presence of mind, girls," cried Miss Elting. "I think
the driver has the animals under control now." She was obliged to
shout in order to make herself heard.

The roar of the carry-all on the floor of the bridge was terrifying.
As the vehicle rolled over the loose planks of the bridge floor the
sound was almost as if a Gatling gun were being fired, accompanied by a
crash, now and then, as the wagon was hurled against the side of the
bridge.

"Oh, what a mess!" shouted Jane McCarthy. "Are we near the other end,
or has the miserable old bridge turned around since we started? The
horses are now going faster than ever, and we'll be going at the same
rapid gait a few moments from now, or maybe seconds----"

Crash!

The carry-all once more struck the side. Then something else occurred.
There was a sudden stoppage of the horses, accompanied by the sound of
breaking woodwork. It was as if the bridge were collapsing. The
Meadow-Brook Girls were piled in a heap at the forward end of the
vehicle, then hurled straight over the dashboard and on over the
h