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SUSPENDED IN MID-AIR LIKE ANY SPRAWLING FROG.'

Page 146

CHAPTER XVI.

CAUGHT !

It was exactly the ludicrous sort of scene to delight the Scamp's fancy-and, indeed, it might well have tickled the imagination. of graver folks than he. Accordingly, there he stood, looking on, and shaking so with laughter, that the tears began to trickle down his cheeks; until at length, from sheer exhaustion, he dropped upon the ground, and rolled there, holding his sides, and throwing himself into all sorts of indescribable contortions.

Willie Knowles, however, with more presence of mind, and seeing how scared and white my face had grown with fright at my critical position, ran forward, holding out his arms for me to drop into. A fresh struggle on my part resulted in the sudden sound of a sharp rent, and an instantaneous release from my awkward situation; from which I tumbled headlong into the outstretched arms below, with so violent a shock that Willie was almost thrown down, in spite of every precaution which forewarned expectation could suggest.

"Oh my! whatever shall I do?" I exclaimed, ruefully, as soon as I was once more planted firmly upon the ground, and had craned my neck over my shoulder, to try and take in the extent of the damage done to my clothes.

"It is a whapping hole, there's no mistake!" laughed Willie, and the truth of his remark was fully borne out by the torn end which dangled about my heels.

Sam lifted his head for a view of the catastrophe, but buried it in his hands again the next moment, to indulge in a fresh explosion of merriment at the absurd figure I cut.

The next instant he jumped up, and came forward. “Here, young fellow!" he said, "I'll pin it up for you in no time. Perhaps you will kindly let me know if I should run the pins into you."

"Perhaps I will!" I returned, laughing.

"And you will have to exercise your discretion - do you understand the term?-as to where and how you sit down. Now come along after that old fellow,—you two."

This unfortunate little accident had not taken much longer in reality than I have taken to describe it, so that our coachman was only so far ahead that we were able to catch him up after a

smart run of a minute or so.

"Now then, old man!" began the Scamp, saucily, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered breath, "we've come to look after you. The old lady up yonder is in a fine way; you'll catch it nice and hot for being so late, I can tell you!"

Telling him to " Mind his own business, and not be imperent to his betters!" the man launched out a friendly cuff at Sam's head, who, however, managed to evade the blow by an agile spring up the high bank, where he walked coolly along on the sides of his feet, chaffing his adversary down below, with an amount of aggravating indifference to the possible consequences that was quite appalling to me.

In less than another quarter of an hour, the horses had been untied, and harnessed in their proper places once more, and we were fairly started on our homeward journey.

"Listen to me, boys!" Miss Royce called to us, when two or three of her pupils were growing a trifle rough and disorderly; supposing we play at the game which we had last summer, when we were coming back from Bathurst Park."

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"Oh, yes, let us!" cried the Scamp, delightedly. "Why, don't you remember it, Bill?—we score one for every sheep

two for each cow, three for each horse, four for a pig, five for a ladder, and so on; and then you try which side can get the most-don't you see? It's jolly fun, I can tell you. Come on, you chaps; turn round, and keep a sharp look-out-those on our side at least!"

“Well, you shall see who will score the most in a quarter of an hour I will put down the numbers for you," said Miss Royce, taking out a pencil, and tearing a blank page off a letter as she spoke. "Only you must not kneel upon the seats like that-no, Sam, I won't have it, indeed; you may turn round as much as you please, but you must sit down properly."

The boys were all delighted with the idea, and were soon eagerly stretching their necks over the side to see what was coming in the distance, shouting triumphantly when a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle happened to come upon their side, more numerous than could be counted before they disappeared again into the distant view.

At last a rule had to be made that any group of more than ten should not be reckoned as above that number; and though this caused some groans of disappointment, when a flock of almost five times as many were passed, yet, in the end, it very much simplified matters. Sometimes we caught sight of a number of animals feeding quietly in the fields, a quarter of a mile ahead, and the road winding about so much would give rise to loud conjectures as to whose lot the prize would ultimately fall.

"They'll be ours!" cried the Scamp, dubiously, as a large herd of brown, white-faced cows came suddenly in view.

"Will they, though? You'll see!" returned Johnnie Harris, who was seated opposite to him, and was reaching as far over the side as he dared, without noticeably rising from his seat.

There was a brief pause. Then, in another couple of minutes, the sudden bend in the road had completely altered the apparent position of the eagerly-watched animals, to the Scamp's loudly expressed disgust and manifest disappointment.

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