THE SECOND LIONESS. 199 



of grass. In spite of the stones we managed a 

 sort of stumbling gallop. Why we did not all go 

 down in a heap I do not know. At any rate we 

 had no chance to watch our quarry, for we were 

 forced to keep our eyes strictly to our way. 

 When finally we emerged from that tumble of 

 rocks, she had disappeared. 



Either she had galloped out over the plains, or 

 she had doubled back to take cover in the ravine. 

 In the latter case she would stand. Our first 

 job, therefore, was to determine whether she had 

 escaped over the open country. To this end we 

 galloped our horses madly in four different direc- 

 tions, pushing them to the utmost, swooping 

 here and there in wide circles. That was an ex- 

 hilarating ten minutes until we had surmounted 

 every billow of the plain, spied in all directions, 

 and assured ourselves beyond doubt that she 

 had not run off. The horses fairly flew, spurn- 

 ing the hard sod, leaping the rock dikes, skipping 

 nimbly around the pig holes, turning like cow- 

 ponies under pressure of knee and rein. Finally 

 we drew up, converged, and together jogged our 

 sweating horses back to the ravine. There we 

 learned from the boys that nothing more had 

 been seen of our quarry. 



We dismounted, handed our mounts to their 



