A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill

								

the gates immediately in front of them descending. Instantly he flung
himself out of the saddle, and sprang for Prince's head. The horse,
almost under the nose of the engine, reared frantically, swerved, then
came to a trembling stand, as Miss Lady deftly loosened her skirt from
the pommel, and swung herself to the ground.
In a second Don was beside her.
“Are you hurt?” he cried, catching her arm with his free hand and
looking anxiously into her face.
“Not a bit. Who won?” she asked with a little catch in her voice.
“Lord! You were plucky! If anything had happened to you!” his hand
tightened on her wrist, and he drew in his breath sharply.
The afternoon freight came lumbering by, and they stood close together
with the hot breath of the engine in their faces. Her hair blew across
his face and he could feel her body trembling against his shoulder.
Neither of them seemed to be aware of the fact that he still held her
hand, and that the horses were tugging at their respective bridles.
As the train thundered past and the gates lifted, Miss Lady turned
quickly and began to pin up her loosened hair.
“Pretty narrow shave, Miss,” commented a redheaded man with a flag,
hurrying across the track, and joining an old apple-woman and two small
boys who constituted an interested audience.
“I seen you a-coming an' would 'a' let you through, only I'm
a-substitutin' on this job, and wasn't in fer takin' no extry risks.”
“Here, boy!” cried Donald, “hold my horse. The girth's broken; I'll have
to make another hole in the strap.”
The word “boy” being a generic term was promptly appropriated by each of
the youngsters as applying to himself, and a fierce scramble ensued in
which the larger was victorious.
“Skeeter's it,” announced the flagman, a self-constituted umpire. “Git
out 'er the way there, Chick, and give the gent a chanct to see what
he's a-doin'.”
Chick, a large-headed, small-bodied goblin of a boy, made an
unintelligible, guttural sound in his throat and remained where he was,
evidently considering it of paramount importance that he should see
what the gentleman was doing.
It was with some difficulty that the new hole in the strap was made, and
to secure the buckle more firmly Don gave it several sharp raps with the
handle of his riding whip. At the last one the silver knob flew from the
handle and rolled to the roadside.
In an instant the small boys were after it, the older having deserted
his post without compunction, when a question of booty was involved.
They grappled together in the dust of the road, long before they reached
the prize, and with arms and legs entwined rolled toward it.
Chick was underneath when they arrived, but he loosened his clutch of
Skeeter's throat, and darted forth a small, grimy hand that closed upon
the treasure. In an instant Skeeter seized upon the clenched fist, and
was wrenching it open, when a third party entered the fray.