The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-02-11


mented genial Mike, as Marcia one hand
on his shoulder, the other on the pommel
sprang lightly into the saddle.
Heavenly agreed the girl bur the
wistful expression IN her eyes beiied her
gayety
''Wud ye be goin' alone?" Queried Mike.
skiHfully adjusting the folds Of her riding
skirt
1T looks that way" laughed Marcia,
"unlcss I meet Lochinvar on the high
way"
Il was only thinkin' Pegasus Is pretty
fr-risky the dag, OWN 10 shtandin' so
long In the shtau He's loikely to run
wild We. Miss Marcia. But av coorse If
Misther L0ck-pardoH, miss. 7 fgit tho
rist av 'is name-ls goiH' 10 meet ye--"
Marcia interrupted him VITA "a merry
laugh.
"Oh. Pegasus and I VIII get along an
right. How his coat shines. No one ever
took such good care Of him as you do,
Mike. He'd win the blue ribbon 1T any
horse show
Mike griuned appree.atively and tipped
his cap
Vow don't ye be dom any jumpin
Miss Marcia, Doe cautioned, as Marcia, her
proud chin held high. gave Pegasus
smart flick with her silver-tippcd crop
and t.otted of along the smoothly raked
drive.
'Phwat r-rud wud We he takin', Miss
Mareiae.' called the admiring groom after
her.
"The Taug!ew7od road. 7 guess Mar
cha answered back over her shoulder
There really was uu EuessW0Tk about
H. Since a certain memorable day, nearly
a month ago. no other road had held for
Marcia any chaTm-snd yet for three long
weeks sine had persisteutly taken another
direction
Now as she turned toward the highway
that led into tile old winding road her
thoughts galloped ahead of her horses
huofs and already. iu Imagination, she
had brought Pegasus 20 q halt az che
edge 81 the wood and was watching
speIbouud man and horse take jump
after jump over the meadow wall
How she longed 10 try it herself, Pc
gasus vauIted beautifully. she knew. She
had seen him take the bars many @ time
when out ut pleasure. But she had prom
Used her father that she would never at
tempt it-that was the condition. in fact
by which Pegasus was her very own pos
session.
Then she remembered with a thrill how
Pegasus had suddenly started and before
she could control him had followed the
lead Of tEe other rider and bounded with
the grace Of "a greyhound over the mead
ow wall The uneXpsctedness of it had
quite taken her breath aw8y-but. Oh.
was there ever any sensation so ex-
quisite,
Before she could recover from her sur
prise. the unknown rider had galloped up
beside her, and, dispensing with even an
apology for his tack Of conveutionality.
exclaimed. "A magnificent performance.
Please accept my compliments"
And she. conscious of the rising color in
her cheeks. had answered snilingiy:
Tine praise belongs al 10 Pegasus. 7
didn't know he was going to DO it,
How iuCredulous the man had looked,
You meang' he asked. doubling his
senses.
That 7 never took jump before. My
horse followed your lead. | was never
more astonished in all my life
In that ease, allow me 20 pay ms com
pliments over again" the man had then
said, looking II her with uudisgulsed ad-
miraton. Pegasus has "a wonderfully
clever rider"
And then-MarCia blushed 20 recall it
she had spent the rest of that glorious
morning in taking vaulting lessons from
an unknown riding master And If fur
Their truth be told, she had let the acct
dent Of one day dictate the programme of
the next. But after that discretion had
come TO the rescue and romance was
forced TO beat a reluctant retreat. In
other words, every day for three leng
monotonOus Weeks Marcia had TesoluteIy
avoided the vicinity Of Tanglewood road.
But to-day she had closed her ears to
the prosaic arguments Of prudence and
literally given rein to her fancy. The air
was crisp and the sky as blue as ON that
other day Her heart thumped with ex-
element.
Faster, Pegasus. faster" she urged.
touching the horses shining TANKS with
her crop. Were almost there"
When the edge OF the wood was reached
she drew rein. and with eager, shining
eyes looked ont expectantly over the
brown meadows. There was no one in
sight Well, she would have one jump.
anyway!
Pegasus was as keen for the sport As
Marcia herself He took the wall hand
sOmely-not once only. but again and
again Then a gate OF bars farther down
I'm the wall catching Marcia's attention,
she decided to put her horse at that. It
was higher than the wall and would be
glorious to fly over.
Just as Pegasus sprang for the leap the
sound of ho0fs galloping hard behind her
caused Marcia to look back. She recog-
nized Mike on her fathers saddle horse,
and the next moment-how, she never
knew-found herself hurled high over Pc
gasus head.
As luck would have it. she landed on
heap of dead leaves blown by the winds
against the flank of the wall, and so was
only badly stunned. When at length she
recovered consciousness. some one was
kneeling beside her and bathing her fore
head with cold water
Don't tell father, Nike she pleaded,
family. her eyes still closed.
NO. miss"
Then again, after a few minutes 81
lence:
Am I badly hurt, Nike
mot the ghost of scratch, Miss Mar
cha. / couldn't have picked out betther
place f'r We TO land myself pile av soft.
leaves and a shtrame Of water-r close by.
Faith an it's luck was ridin' wild ye the
day. Miss Marcia
But how did you happen to follow me.
Mike?'
4 was afraid We might not be matin'
that Misther LOck-pardon me, Fl fright