It is needless to add that
the gift was not returned to the donor. When Alice saw that Maude had
escaped without injury, she soon recovered her equanimity.
"How did it happen, Maude?" asked Quincy. "Alice says you gave the
horse a sharp blow."
"I must have hit her harder than I intended--but I was thinking of
the race more than of her. Didn't she run, hurrah-ti-cut, as Mrs.
Hawkins says? I was bound I'd keep on her back unless she fell down
or ran into something, and I did. I wasn't foolish enough to jump and
land on my head.
"When we got to the main road, I didn't know which way to turn--I
mean I couldn't think. She settled the matter by turning to the
right, which was very fortunate, but I didn't know I was on the road
to Dixie."
"Maude, you're incorrigible," laughed Alice.
"No, I'm a sensation. I was full of them as I dashed on. But she was
a well-bred horse and kept in the middle of the road. Then, to my
joy, I saw Dixie ahead. As I went by her I yelled--yes, yelled--
'she's running away.'
"Dixie yelled--yes, yelled--'Hold on, I'll catch you.' She did, but
we ran more than a mile before she got even with me, grasped my
horse's bridle, and pulled her round so quickly that I came near
landing in the bushes. And here I am."
"You must not ride her again," said Alice.
"That's just what I am going to do. I'm not going to deprive that
horse of my company, when it was all my fault.
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