like parched peas in a frying-pan.  And oh! how they all laughed!  It is not always the funniest or wittiest things that cause the most laughter, and somehow to-day the sight of Mokus flying along on his little hoofs, the dreary scene, the lashing rain, themselves wrapped up like a lot of gipsies, with the risk of finding themselves at any moment tossed out and left sitting in the mud, made them laugh and laugh until they ached.  And all the time Dan kept on saying the silliest things, and waving his whip about his head as though he were a Roman driving a chariot drawn by fiery horses, urging Mokus on to a more and more reckless pace, until at last they had to beg him to stop, they were aching so with laughter.

But except for some forlorn-looking geese on the common, who hissed at them as they passed, they did not meet a living creature the whole of the way they went.

“Cheer up, old ladies!” Dan shouted to the geese consolingly, “you’ve nothing on to spoil.  If I’d been made to stand a flood as you have, I wouldn’t make a fuss about a little summer shower like this.”

“If you want your last glimpse of the tors,” said Kitty, who knew every inch of the way, “look back now.”  And they all looked, and all shuddered as their eyes travelled over the spot where they had so lately been basking in the sunshine.  It looked gloomy and awe-inspiring now, with black clouds lowering over it, a heavy mist wrapping it round, while at the foot the little neglected shanty added the last desolate touch to the wild scene.  “Doesn’t it seem impossible that we were playing there only a little while ago,” said Kitty, “and I was wishing I could sleep there?” Then, with sudden recollection, “I wonder where Anna is.  She must have walked very fast.”

“I only hope she isn’t still up there,” said Dan with a laugh, waving his hand towards the tors.  “Poor old Anna!”

“Oh!” squealed Betty, who loved horrors and excitements, “suppose she is, and sees us going farther and farther away from her.  If she called and called, nobody would hear her, and oh, she’ll be so frightened.  If she had to stay there all night, I am sure she would die of fright,” and Betty looked utterly horrified.  “What shall we do?  Isn’t it egsciting!”

“No, not at all,” said Dan impatiently; “don’t be silly.  Why should she be there?  I told you all to hurry homewards, and Anna did as she was told.  That is the difference between you and Anna, you see.”

“Well,” said Betty thoughtfully, “I didn’t do as I was told, but I think I’ve got the best of it—­especially,” she added, “if Anna is left behind.”

Dan seemed to take it as a personal insult that she should dwell on such a possibility.  “If you say anything more about Anna being left behind,” he said, “I’ll put you out of the cart and send you back to look for her.”

“Then there would be two of us lost instead of one,” said Betty aggravatingly, “and oh, wouldn’t you get into a row when you got home!”