HooJ Beats 



don. "Perfectly devilish," I thought, but I said 

 nothing. There did not seem to be any necessity, 

 the thing was so obvious. Rawdon kept Cleopat- 

 ra from sitting down when I got on her, while the 

 groom swung to her head, so that for the time be- 

 ing I felt comparatively safe, and anchored like a 

 ship in harbor, but it was only the calm before the 

 storm. 



"All ready?" Rawdon asked, smiling at me 

 unconcernedly. 



I gritted my teeth, took a firmer hold on my 

 reins and nodded. The groom made a broad 

 jump to one side that would have got him his "H" 

 at college, Rawdon sidestepped a quick up-cut 

 from her heels, and Cleopatra and I were alone. 

 Never before in my life have I felt so much the 

 want of a chaperone. But the worst was nearly 

 over for the time being, and after a few buck 

 jumps and a little pitching which carried us down 

 the driveway and out into the road, she stood 

 quite still and waited for Rawdon and his big 

 brown gelding to come ambling along. 



"She's always fresh like that in the morning," 

 he called, "but she'll settle down, never fear. It's 

 just her play, you know." I looked at Rawdon. 

 There was no doubt about it; the man was quite 

 serious and believed what he said. I made up my 

 mind then and there that when an honorable 



