themselves into the cart. Betty and Tony, in
great spirits, sat in the bottom of it, with a rug drawn over them like
a tent, and two little peepholes to peer through, and were as happy and
warm as could be. Kitty and Dan sat upon the seat with the other rug
round their shoulders, and the moment they were ready and had gathered
up the reins, Mokus, who had been standing flapping his long ears
crossly when the rain struck him particularly smartly, started off at a
really quick trot, which covered the ground rapidly, but rattled and
jolted the cart to such an extent that it was all Dan and Kitty could do
to keep their seats, while as for the two in the bottom of the cart,
they were tossed about like parched peas in a frying-pan. And oh! how
they all laughed! It is not always the funniest or wittiest things that
cause the most laughter, and somehow to-day the sight of Mokus flying
along on his little hoofs, the dreary scene, the lashing rain,
themselves wrapped up like a lot of gipsies, with the risk of finding
themselves at any moment tossed out and left sitting in the mud, made
them laugh and laugh until they ached. And all the time Dan kept on
saying the silliest things, and waving his whip about his head as though
he were a Roman driving a chariot drawn by fiery horses, urging Mokus on
to a more and more reckless pace, until at last they had to beg him to
stop, they were aching so with laughter.

But except for some forlorn-looking geese on the common, who hissed at
them as they passed, they did not meet a living creature the whole of
the way they went.

"Cheer up, old ladies!" Dan shouted to the geese consolingly, "you've
nothing on to spoil. If I'd been made to stand a flood as you have, I
wouldn't make a fuss about a little summer shower like this."

"If you want your last glimpse of the tors," said Kitty, who knew every
inch of the way, "look back now." And they all looked, and all
shuddered as their eyes travelled over the spot where they had so lately
been basking in the sunshine. It looked gloomy and awe-inspiring now,
with black clouds lowering over it, a heavy mist wrapping it round,
while at the foot the little neglected shanty added the last desolate
touch to the wild scene. "Doesn't it seem impossible that we were
playing there only a little while ago," said Kitty, "and I was wishing I
could sleep there?" Then, with sudden recollection, "I wonder where
Anna is. She must have walked very fast."