Page:Son of the wind.djvu/129

RV 117 steadily to the front, until what Carron saw of his companion was a view of back-thrown shoulders, the back of a head, and flying horse's hoofs. So she drew ahead of him, dropping down into the shallow valley, and took the rise at an increasing speed.

He had had the feeling she was getting beyond him and away from him, and now he began to fear the mare was getting away from her. He noted this anxiously. It was useless to hope to catch up with her now. He rose in his stirrups and shouted her name, at the same time thinking that he might as well call to a bird. The brow of the hill was bare and sharp where the road curved over, and he saw the little figures of horse and woman poised there as if about to launch forth and take flight into the pale blue sky.

Flight was the illusion. They were stopping. He could see the rocking motion in the mare's head and shoulders as she came down in her pace. He saw they were turning and finally had stopped just upon the summit. There they stood, waiting for him. The girl was shading her eyes with her hand. "What do you want?" she called.

"To keep you from breaking your neck!" Her docility in halting at a word from him astonished him, but he was rather indignant at her coolness. "If