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 he was trying to wipe away with a red-streaked hand.

"What's the matter, Bob?" I asked, and I knew that my voice sounded odd and strained.

Bob didn't answer for a moment, and then the words came thick and sulky:—"I've got the blamed nosebleed, and I've used up all my handkerchiefs!"

The relief was so great that we all burst out laughing, and then I knew that Bess and Uncle Rob had seen, too. Bob joined in the laugh as well as he could, and reached for the first of the three handkerchiefs which were thrust over his shoulder.

The laugh had broken the strain, and somehow, although there was still a mile or so of dreadful road before us, we seemed to have gotten all over our worry, just as if we were on safe ground again. Uncle Rob started in, half joking and half in earnest:—"Now, Bess, if this vehicle begins to keel toward the river, I'm going to throw you out, and it will be up to you to catch hold of something on that hillside out there. Have your fingernails and toe-nails and teeth ready, and don't let anything get away from you; for if you slide