“Look out!” cried Joe, as if that meant anything.
The girl screamed, and seemed about to jump.
“I’ve got to stop that horse!” gasped Joe, and he broke into a run. Then the uselessness of this came to him and he stopped.
At his feet were several large, round and smooth stones. Hardly knowing why he picked up one, just as the horse turned sideways to him.
“If I could only hit him on the head, and stun him so that he’d stop before he gets to the cliff!” thought Joe. “If I don’t he’ll go over sure as fate!”
The next instant he threw.
Straight and true went the stone, and struck the horse hard on the head.
The animal reared, then staggered. It tried to keep on, but the blow had been a disabling one. It tried to keep on its legs but they crumpled under the beast, and the next moment it went down in a heap, almost on the verge of the steep descent.
The carriage swerved and ran partly up on the prostrate animal, while the shock of the sudden stop threw the girl out on the soft grass, where she lay in a crumpled heap.
Joe sprinted forward.