Page:Triangles of life, and other stories.djvu/218

206 "I was passin' down by Mrs. Murphy's place one mornin'," said Ryan, "whin she says, 'Good mornin', Mr. Ryan.' 'Good mornin', Mrs. Murphy,' says I. 'Would you ride the mare for me this mornin', Mr. Ryan,' she says. 'I'll ride the tail off her,' I says. 'All right,' she says, 'will you come in an' have a cup o' tay, an' ride the tail off her afterwards?' 'All right,' I says, 'I'll come in and have a cup o' tay, an' ride the tail off her afterwards.' So I had the cup o' tay, an' thin I started down for the yard; I had a new pair of brogues on—nicely greased. So I got on the mare, an' she made three consecutive bucks. An' I made as many revolutions in the air. An' the last time I went up, I happened to look down, an' I saw the mare a quarter of a mile away. 'Go it, you ——!' I says. 'An' now for a wallop!'" (Long pause.) "I remembered no more till I woke up three days after in the Gulgong hospital."

He'd scarcely finished when Mary jumped to her feet, and stared down the creek through the trees on the other side.

"Joe! Joe!" she screamed, "there's a horse bolting! There's a horse running away with a woman on the other side of the creek! Look! Look! There she is! Quick, Joe, quick, for God's sake! My God, she'll be thrown!"

We all jumped to our feet as if we'd been sitting on snakes, Mary singing out: "She'll be thrown! She'll be thrown!" all the-time. Sure enough there was a horse, with a woman on its back, galloping through the timber down on the other side of the