BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 129 



ledge between the two. We ascended slowly, 

 clinging to the ponies' manes, I in advance of Miss 

 O'Flannigan, who was in one of her most conver- 

 sational moods, and dem.anded my frequent appre- 

 ciation of the landscape with an enthusiasm that 

 seemed to me ill-timed. Each time I so much 

 as turned my head, the saddle and the hold-all 

 turned sympathetically with me, and I was in the 

 act of ignoring an appeal to my aesthetic feelings 

 when Miss O'P'lannigan's voice ceased abruptly. 

 This was so unusual an occurrence that I took a 

 fresh handful of the mane and looked round. Miss 

 O'Flannigan was standing on her head on the ofif- 

 side of her pony, on whose back nothing was now 

 visible except the girths, while beneath his body 

 hung the hold-all. What it was that formed the 

 link between him and Miss O'Flannigan was not 

 apparent, but as he was eating grass with unshaken 

 calm it was not a matter of vital importance. 



Before I had dismounted and reached the scene 

 of the disaster Miss O'Flannigan was free : she 

 had, in fact, rolled over the edge of the ledge into 



I 



