54 THE STBIKE AT SHANE'S. 



come there, for he never could make the turn without 

 upsetting the cart, but he was helpless. Straight at 

 the fence went Dick, paying no attention to the turn 

 of the road, and with a bound he went over, and the 

 cart was smashed to splinters. Shane lay beside the 

 road unconscious, and to all appearance dead. 



Dick kicked himself free from the harness and sped 

 across the field, thankful that he had the privilege to 

 use his legs once more. Shane had spent his life 

 among horses, but had never learned until now that he 

 could not subdue a high-spirited horse by force. 



Mrs. Shane had seen the horse start and feared the 

 result. An elevation in the road had cut off her view, 

 after the horse had passed down the road a few rods, 

 and she knew nothing of the result. She called Mike 

 and Tom from the barn and told them what had 

 occurred. 



"Oh! that's all right, mother; I guess father can 

 manage him, as lame as he is," said Tom. "He won't 

 run very far before he will get tired." 



"Begorra, I'm not so sure of that," said Mike ; "it's 

 a fiery temper the horse has, an' whin his blood's up 

 he's hard to manage." 



"I would rather you would go after him and see if 

 anything has happened," said Mrs. Shane. 



"Why, how useless that would be, mother; there 

 ain't a horse on the farm we could drive, an' we 

 couldn't catch him on foot." 



" I shall not rest until I know," said Mrs. Shane. 



"Don't worry about that. Father knows too much 



