The leader had snapped a tug; he forced his mate over toward the far side of the road; and there the ground broke away, abruptly and steeply, for many, many yards to the bottom of the hill.
There was neither fence, nor ditch, to guard passengers on the road from catastrophe.
CHAPTER X—“TOUCH AND GO”
As it chanced, Mr. Steele’s groom, who had been sent with the coach and who sat beside Bob, was on the wrong side to give any assistance at this crucial moment. To have jumped from the seat threatened to send him plunging down the undefended hillside—perhaps with the coach rolling after him!
For some seconds it did seem as though the horses would go down in a tangle and drag the coach and its occupants after them.
Bob was doing his best with the reins, but the frisky nigh leader was dancing and plunging, and forcing his mate off the firm footing of the road. Indeed, the latter animal was already slipping over the brink.
“Get him!” yelled Bob, meaning the horse that had broken the trace and had stirred up all the trouble.
But who was to “get him”? That was the difficulty. The groom could not climb over the young driver to reach the ground.
There was at least one quick-witted person aboard the Sunrise coach in this “touch and go” emergency. Ruth was not afraid of horses. She had not been used to them, like Ann Hicks, all her life, but she was the person now in the best position to help Bob.
To reach the ground on the nigh side of the coach Ann Hicks would have to climb over a couple of boys. Ruth was on that end of the seat and she swung herself off smartly, and landed firmly on the road.