r Paine strode on, still following with
his eye the figures that went thundering over the bridge, up the hill,
out of sight, leaving a cloud of cloud of dust behind.

Now that his mistress was safe, Ben enjoyed that wild ride mightily, and
so did the bay mare; for Lita had good blood in her, and proved it that
day by doing her three miles in a wonderfully short time. People jogging
along in wagons and country carry-alls stared amazed as the reckless
pair went by. Women, placidly doing their afternoon sewing at the front
windows, dropped their needles to run out with exclamations of alarm,
sure some one was being run away with; children playing by the roadside
scattered like chickens before a hawk, as Ben passed with a warning
whoop, and baby-carriages were scrambled into door-yards with perilous
rapidity at his approach.

But when he clattered into town, intense interest was felt in this
barefooted boy on the foaming steed, and a dozen voices asked, "Who's
killed?" as he pulled up at the doctor's gate.

"Jest drove off that way; Mrs. Flynn's baby's in a fit," cried a stout
lady from the piazza, never ceasing to rock, though several passers-by
paused to hear the news, for she was a doctor's wife, and used to the
arrival of excited messengers from all quarters at all hours of the day
and night.

Deigning no reply to any one, Ben rode away, wishing he could leap a
yawning gulf, scale a precipice, or ford a raging torrent, to prove his
devotion to Miss Celia, and his skill in horsemanship. But no dangers
beset his path, and he found the doctor pausing to water his tired horse
at the very trough where Bab and Sancho had been discovered on that
ever-memorable day. The story was quickly told, and, promising to be
there as soon as possible, Dr. Mills drove on to relieve baby Flynn's
inner man, a little disturbed by a bit of soap and several buttons, upon
which he had privately lunched while his mamma was busy at the wash-tub.

Ben thanked his stars, as he had already done more than once, that he
knew how to take care of a horse; for he delayed by the watering-place
long enough to wash out Lita's mouth with a handful of wet grass, to let
her have one swallow to clear her dusty throat, and then went slowly
back over the breezy hills, patting and praising the good creature for
her intelligence and speed. She knew well enough that she had been a
clever little mare, and tossed her head, arched her glossy neck, and
ambled dainti