dog go. Then came a
sudden blinding flash over her shoulder, a deafening report in her ear.
Bruno broke from her grasp with a frenzied leap, then came another
report. And then----

And then the next thing she knew was that she was lying on the grass
with Muriel and Miss Caton and Miss Latham bending over her, and with
what appeared to Gerry to be the whole of Wakehurst Priory peering over
their shoulders.

"For Heaven's sake, keep back, you kids!" cried Muriel in an irate
voice, thrusting back the nearest of the eager throng. "Can't you see
that Gerry's nearly fainting, and you will keep crowding round so that
she can't get a breath of air."

"Go back, girls, at once," commanded Miss Latham, rising to her feet
and waving the school away with a peremptory gesture. "Hurry up and
get back to school, all of you. Whoever gets there first can tell
Sister that she's wanted." An ingenious suggestion that almost
instantly cleared a space round Gerry. If you can't get a front place
as a spectator when there's an accident, the next best thing is to be
the first to carry the news of it to somebody else. And with a feeling
that they were really doing something of importance, some fifty or
sixty girls set out at once to race down to the school to summon Sister.

Having thus procured breathing-space for Gerry, Miss Latham turned to
the games' mistress, who was kneeling beside the girl.

"Is she bitten?" she asked anxiously.

"I don't know," said Miss Caton uncertainly. But Gerry, who was fast
recovering from her momentary faintness, made an effort to sit up,
saying in a weak voice which she had some difficulty in recognising as
her own:

"No, I'm not bitten--anywhere. It's only that I'm so giddy--and out of
breath."

"All right, dear; lie down again and don't try to talk. You'll be
better directly," said Miss Caton gently.

"I'm better now," said Gerry, resolutely putting aside the protesting
hands that attempted to hold her down, and sitting upright. The
movement nearly made her turn faint again, but she conquered the
feeling by a great effort and smiled into Muriel's anxious face.

"I'm all right. Really, I'm all right! He didn't hurt me a bit. Look
at my hands, they're not even scratched."

Nor were they. And after much anxious questioning and examination the
mistresses came to the conclusion that in some marvellous way the girl
had escaped all injury.

"I can't think how he didn't bite you!" Miss La