He was over the front of the wagon next moment, and the girl gasped as
she saw him crawl out with an arm across the back of one of the
galloping horses and his knees on the pole. It looked horribly
dangerous, and probably was, for the wagon was lurching furiously down
the declivity. Then he leaned out and downwards over the horse,
clawing at something desperately, and Miss Deringham would have shut
her eyes if she could have done so. In place of it she stared
fascinated at the clinging figure while the trees flashed past, until
it was evident that the man had accomplished his task. How he got back
she did not know, but he was once more on the driving-seat when his
voice reached her breathlessly.

"Get a good hold. I'm going to put them at the hill when I can," he
said.

They swept on until the hillside sloped more gently on the one hand,
and the teamster flung, himself backwards, dragging at the reins. The
wagon, tilting, swung partly round, then there was a horrible lurching,
and the lathered beasts were floundering up a slope, smashing down the
undergrowth and fern, until the vehicle stopped suddenly with a crash.
The man sprang down and Miss Deringham and her father lost no time in
following him, while when at last the team stood still trembling, he
crawled out from under the wagon and turned to them.

"That brake never was much good," he said. "One of the beasts
stumbling jerked the line into the hook there, and the fore-wheel beam
gave out when we struck the tree. I'm most afraid we'll have to stop
right here tonight!"

"But that, as you will realize, is quite impossible," said Deringham,