The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-06-20

XIV.

- While we physicians busted ourselves
in the room in which the injured man
lay, making such preparations as were
in our power for the grim event on the
result of which a life depended,
Dorothy Gray was driving briskly along
the BASKERVILLE road. The task she
had undertaken was simple, but none
the less important for that fact; she
had merely to cover more than score
of miles in the shortest time possible.
For many girls of her acquaintance the
undertaking would have been the
easiest thing imaginable; and with a
good deal Of envy she recalled the skill
shown by one or two Of her friends on
occasions when the moving cause was
nothing more weighty than chance to
display prowess as a whip. Unfortun-
ately for her, she had seldom held the
reins over anything more spirited than
the lazy animals occasionally hired by
her aunt on a specific guarantee that in
no way could they be started out of
slow trot, hardly faster than the walk
for which all of them evinced strong
preference; and, although she had
gained a very fair understanding of the
idiosyncrasies of the roadster in front
of her, her knowledge had the drawback
of being for the most part theoretical.
Still, she had not begun the journey
without duly considering its conditions,
and, on the whole, they were favorable
to novice. The road was good, though
iS cNr
times the case with rural highways;
there were no sharp pitches of the kind
to shake unframed nerves; and the
horse, SO far as she knew, was utterly
unacquainted with the equine joys OF
boiling. Not to press him at first
that was her plan, for much haste
might mean little speed in the end.
For the first half-mile she drove al
most leisurely, but when she had
reached the top of the ridge which bor-
dered the lowlands along the shore she
frightened the reins q little, and felt in
stantly the roadster's response to the
summons. He settled; down to the
work before him as if he liked it, with
the long telling strides which covered
ground with such deceptive ease. A
quarter of mile ahead was a buck
board bearing two passengers and
drawn by a horse which, she saw as
she came closer, was trotting steadily.
1t surprised her to observe how rapid
ly she overhau1ed the other conveyance,
even when the driver, after a look over,
his shoulder, piled his whip with the
evident intention of giving her a chase.
A, few hundred yards showed him the
hopelessness Of the contest, and, with
native courtesy and perhaps shrewd
guess that his own wheels would be
the safer by allowing the stranger
generous share of the road, he pulled
his vehicle we'll out Of the way as SHE
sped by him. She caught look OF cu-
flosity on his face as she turned in her
seat to watch her swift progress.
There was just the tinge of excite
1nent in the ride to make her forget
for time the sorry cause of it. The
ooolness Of approaching evening was
upon the land, although the sun was
still we'll above the horizon, and what
little breeze was stirring blew in her
face. On she went, now across a plain,
now surrounding a gentle activity.
now winding along q valley among the
low hills, but always with the same
smooth motion, as steady as it was
fleet. An old weather-stained farm
house sprang into view on her right.
She remembered that it was counted as
marking the halfway point of the
road. A glance at her watch showed
that, even with her slow start, she had
covered little more than five miles
in "a minutes. Withr15 or 16 miles yet
tc5 be traversed this might be doing too
much; and on the next rising grade
she set herself TO the task OF sslacken-
sing the speed. here was Somewhat
Of a struggle between horse and driver.