eagerly. "Listen:

"'Sir Guy, a knight,
In armor bright,
Took tea with Mistress Powsers.
With manner free,
She spilled the tea,
And rusted Guy's best trousers!'"

"Then he certainly must have looked _a guy_!" Neale declared. "I always
wondered how those 'knights of old' got along in their tin uniforms.
After a campaign in wet weather they must have been a pretty rusty
looking bunch."

It was about this time that Neale O'Neil got his name in the local
paper, and the Corner House girls were very proud of him.

Although Neale was so close-mouthed about his life before his arrival in
Milton, the girls knew he was fond of, and had been used to, horses. If
he obtained a job on Saturday helping a teamster, or driving a private
carriage, he enjoyed _that_ day's work, if no other.

On a certain Saturday the girls saw Neale drive by early in the morning
with a handsome pair of young horses, drawing loam to a part of the
Parade ground which was to be re-seeded. The contractor had only
recently bought these young horses from the West, but he trusted Neale
with them, for he knew the boy was careful and seemed able to handle
almost any kind of a team.

The Kenway sisters went shopping that afternoon as usual. The end of
Main Street near Blachstein and Mapes department store, and the Unique
Candy Store, and other shops that the sisters patronized, were filled
with shoppers. Milton was a busy town on Saturdays.

Tess and Dot were crossing the street at Ralph Avenue when a shouting up
Main Street made them turn to look that way. People in the street
scattered and certain vehicles were hastily driven out of the way of a
pair of horses that came charging down the middle of Main Street like
mad.

Ruth saw the danger of her younger sisters, and called to them from the
doorway of the drugstore.

"Tess! Dot! Quick! Come here!"

But Agnes ran from across the street and hustled the smaller girls upon
the sidewalk. Then they could all give their attention to the runaway.

Not until then did they realize that it was the team Neale O'Neil had
been driving. An auto horn had startled them at the Parade Ground, while
Neale was out of the wagon, and downtown they started.

It seemed to the onlookers as though the team traveled faster every
block! Nevertheless Neale had chased and overtaken the wagon not far
below the old Corner House.

He clambered over the tailboard and, as the wagon rocked from sid