ed his grandfather. "Miss Fanny, if
you will stay here I will go and look after the young gentleman, for if
he tumbles into the bog he will not get out again without help. There
is no danger, only we must not lose time."

Saying this, old Alec hurried off in the direction from which Robby had
appeared.

Fanny for a moment forgot all about her bird which she had put down in
its cage on the window-sill, and ran after old Alec. He strode on at a
rapid rate, so that she had a difficulty in overtaking him. After some
time she heard him shouting, "Stop, boy, stop!" and saw him waving with
his hand.

Again he went on even more eagerly than before.

Fanny, who had just then reached a rise in the ground, caught sight of
Norman, some way off in the hollow below her, floundering about and
holding on to the cart, towards which Alec, yet at a little distance,
was making his way. The old man had to do so cautiously, for as the
ground was very soft, he sank at each step he made above his ankles; but
Norman, being much lighter, had passed over places which would not bear
his weight.

As she got near she heard Norman crying lustily for help, and she began
to fear that before old Alec could reach him, he might sink below the
soft yielding earth. Just then she heard a shout behind her, and,
looking round, she observed little Robby approaching with a long thin
pole on his shoulder. He was quickly up with her.

"Don't go farther, Miss," he said, "you will be sticking in the bog,
too, if you do; we will soon get out the young master."

Robby quickly joined his grandfather, and by placing the long pole on
the top of the hog, Robby was able to make his way over the peat with a
rope.

"Here, young master!" he exclaimed, "catch hold of the pole and crawl
along it as I do, and you will soon be out of the bog."

Norman, though at first too much frightened to do anything but shout and
struggle, at last comprehended what Robby said, and following his
advice, crawled along the pole. He soon got on firmer ground.

Robby then went back and fastened the rope to the carriage, which old
Alec was thus able without much difficulty to drag out of the bog.

Fanny soon recovered from her alarm.

"What made you run there?" she asked, as Norman, wet and muddy, came up
to her, looking very foolish and very angry too.

"It was all your fault," he answered; "I wanted to go home, and I told
you that I did not want to wait for the old man, or