After tea they all set out on a grand beetle-hunting expedition, and so intent were they upon this fascinating pursuit that they did not note the flight of time, till suddenly Mildred, pulling out her watch, gave a pretty cry of alarm.

“Do you know what time it is, good people?  Half-past six, and the Custances are to dine with us at a quarter-past-seven.  It will take us a good hour to get down; what shall we do?”

“I know,” said Arthur, “there are two sledges just below; I saw them as we came up.  They will take us down to Funchal in a quarter of an hour, and we can get to the Quinta by about seven.”

“Arthur, you are invaluable; the very thing.  Come on, all of you, quick.”

Now these sledges are peculiar to Madeira, being made on the principle of the bullock car, with the difference that they travel down the smooth, stone-paved roadways by their own momentum, guided by two skilled conductors, each with one foot naked to prevent his slipping, who hold the ropes, and when the sledge begins to travel more swiftly than they can follow, mount upon the projecting ends of the runners and are carried with it.  By means of the swift and exhilarating rush of these sledges, the traveller traverses the distance, that it takes some hours to climb, in a very few minutes.  Indeed, his journey up and down may be very well compared with that of the well-known British sailor who took five hours to get up Majuba mountain, but, according to his own forcibly told story, came down again with an almost incredible rapidity.  It may therefore be imagined that sledge-travelling in Madeira is not very well suited to nervous voyagers.

Miss Terry had at times seen these wheelless vehicles shoot from the top of a mountain to the bottom like a balloon with the gas out, and had also heard of occasional accidents in connection with them.  Stoutly she vowed that nothing should induce her to trust her neck to one of them.

“But you must, Agatha, or else be left behind.  They are as safe as a church, and I can’t leave the Custances to wait till half-past eight for dinner.  Come, get in.  Arthur can go in front and hold you; I will sit behind.”

Thus admonished—­Miss Terry entered groaning, Arthur taking his seat beside her, and Mrs. Carr hers in a sort of dickey behind.  The newly-married pair, who did not half like it, possessed themselves of the smaller sledge, determined to brave extinction in each other’s arms.  Then the conductors seized the ropes, and, planting their one naked foot firmly before them, awaited the signal to depart.

“Stop,” said Miss Terry, lifting the recovered umbrella, “that man has forgotten to put on his shoe and stocking on his right leg.  He will cut his foot, and, besides, it doesn’t look respectable to be seen flying through a place with a one-legged ragamuffin——­”