"Sit down! I'm comin'!" cried Sandy, and now Alice could hear him
panting behind her.
In another instant she felt a jar on the machine, and then someone
reached over her shoulder, and took the reins from her hands.
"I'll pull 'em down!" cried Sandy, balancing himself on a part of the
machine, back of the seat on which Alice was riding.
The young farmer sawed hard on the lines and this, added to the fact
that they had had enough of the hard run, caused the animals to
slacken speed. They slowed down to a trot, and then to a walk,
finally coming to a halt. And just in time, too, for right in front
of them was a big stone fence, into which they might have crashed.
"Oh! Oh dear!" gasped Alice. "I--I think I'm going to faint!"
"Don't! Please don't, Miss!" begged Sandy, more frightened at that
prospect, evidently, than he had been at the runaway. "I--I don't
know what to do when ladies faint. Really I don't I--I never saw one
faint, Miss. Please don't!"
"All right--then I won't," laughed Alice, by an effort conquering her
inclination. But she felt a great weakness, now that the strain was
over, and she trembled as Sandy helped her down from the machine. In
another moment Ruth and the others came up, and Ruth clasped her
sister in her arms.
"You poor dear!" she whispered.
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