The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1902-08-15
THE RUNAWAY MARE
BY JOHN H. RAFTERY.

on park bench watching the parade OF
traps, carts, phaetons, carriages, fine
horses and automobiles.
Look, George" said Tom, pointing
down the drive as racy chestnut cob swung
into view with a smart cart at it's heels
and pretty girl on the box, with a know
ing footman beside her Look! That's
the very individual I'm looking for!'
"You mean the girl or the horse? said
Hathaway.
did you ever see such knee action!
81 can't see her knees, and"
"She angles her hooks like pupil of Del
sarte!"
Splendid complexion!" said George, star
ing at the girl.
Perfect manners and plenty of speed!''
said Tom, watching the filly.
But at that moment a putting, ghostlike
automobile swept around the curve. The
toppy cob stood stock still for moment,
then bucked into the air like an outlaw
broncho. The girl chung bravely to the
reins and brought down her whip with
resounding whack across the flly's back.
That was enough. The mettlesome beast
swung swiftly toward the bench where
Vaughn and Hathaway had been sitting
and bolted over it like an Irish hunter at
a six-rail fence.
"A cross country champion = whoa!
Toms unfinished sentence ended in shout
at the horse, for already the cart was on
axle end and the girl and her footman were
sprawling topsy-turvy on the grass. Hatha-
way picked up the bedraggled beauty, but
Vaughn seized the plunging animals bride.
The gathering crowd set the cart to rights
and in another moment, pale with anger and
chagrin, and with hasty Thank YOU to
the crowd, the girl was back on her perch,
with the scared footman beside her.
"Now, Whalebone, you imp!" she cried
at the horse, and Selling her whip she cut
it kissing across the painting TANKS, SO that
horse and cart, pretty girl and covering
servant went flashing down the road at
breakneck speed
"Pd give five hundred to own her" said
Tom, gazing after them.
Her? You mean the girl, of course. I'd
give five thousand" drawled Hathaway.
Bradley" the girl was saying, as they
neared home, you must sell Whalebone.
She won't get used to automobiles
''All right, Miss Dunlevy"
"Take two hundred, take anything for
her. paid six hundred. We've had two
upsets already and-well, Pm not ready for
funeral just yet
81 see, miss"
'You can put an adj in the paper to-
night like this: For sale-Imported hack
ney-cob, four year old; sound-let's see, it
wouldn't do to say gentle'-four-y ear-old,
sound, Oh, yes, city broke, fine action, speed,
style and er, well-perfect manners How
does that sound, Bradley"
"All right, miss. That ought to sell her,
miss"
The Dunlevy's were installed in their sea-
shore home early in July
There's a new family at The FRS this
year." said Mrs. Dunlevy, reading the paper
over her morning chocolate, "the Vaughns,
and they're from Chicago" Then, to her
husbands: "Know any Vaughns back home,
Walter?"
Eyes know Horace Vaughn, but l
never met his family. He has two daugh-
tiers and a son, and"
ooh, goody for the son." laughed Miss
Helen, clapping her hands, eve need few
more men; he is man, isn't he, dad?"
ooh, L guess so. He's of age, anyhow,
suppose it's the proper thing for me to
drop in on them, isn't it, MAJ"
And so it was agreed, and the next day
Tom and one of his sisters called on the
Dunlevy's, and as the quaint old village by
the Massachusetts, shore began to fill up
with summer pleasure seekers, and one by
one the splendid homes along the coast be-
gan to take on the gay life of new season,
Miss Helen commenced to think that Tom
Vaughn was not only a man, but a man
amongst men. She was sitting on the YER
anda alone when he drove up in his cart
one purple evening and cried; "Will you
have ride by the surf, Miss Dunlevy?'
And she ran down to laugh yes, and was
up ON the high seat beside him before he
could get down to help her. But as they
drove out of the shadows into the tawny,
moonlit road, she looked down at the high
stepping mare, 1.-the, mettlesome sorrel
with a very familiar toss of the crest and
most bewitching, coquettish syle.
"A pretty mare, Mr.. Vaughn" said Miss
Dunlevy. "Is she gentle?'
ooh, l hope So" he said. IL bought her
from lady who guaranteed her perfect
manners"
"What's her name?" nervously
ooh, don't know the lady's name. Her
coachman dealt with me"
81 mean the mares name"
"Whalebone," said Tom, chats what the
coachman said, but don't like it. Do your
A scream was the answer, for at that
instant one of those wheeling, gasping
French autos, with a headlight as big as the
full moon, came darting down the hill to-
ward them.
"Whalebone will run away, Toni" said
the girl, Involuntary clinging to his arm.
"Oh no she won't The lady assured me
that the mare was city-broke, and"
''Hold her, hold her, Toni" The terrified
girl was watching the coming juggernaut
and the nervous mare by turns.
"Put your arms round my waist, Helen"
said Vaughn, and as she gripped him and
hid her face behind his broad back she
heard the hiss of the machine as it flew by,
the cart leaped up and forward, there was a
volley of hoof beats on the wooden bridge
and above the roar of the spinning wheels
and the jolting groans of the two-wheeler
she heard Tom cry:
Hold on tight, Helen! Keep your head
down and hold on. The mare is running
away"
And as they flew through the darkness,
richochetting against rocks, bounding over
obstacles, swaying from side to side, she
began to wonder why the strong man to
whom she chung was so incapable of quelling
the pony-buit hackney, but when at last
she heard the hiss OF his whip and felt the
frightened Whalebone leap forward again
under the sting of its lash she sat up beside
Tom, and before he guessed what she meant
she seized the reins from his hands and
brought the mare to her launches.
Great heavens, but you're strong, Hell
on =" he wondered