Link now came up, and the vicious little brutes were brought to a standstill.
Then Mont, thoroughly exhausted, sank in a heap upon the ground.
As soon as the carriage was stopped in its wild career, a fair and beautiful girl sprang out.
"Oh, is he very much hurt?" she cried, as she raised her clasped hands in despair.
Our hero staggered to his feet, and as he gazed on the fairy-like form and sweet, delicate face his cheeks flushed and his heart beat quickly.
"I am not hurt at all," he said stoutly, although his arms and legs and every portion of his body ached as though he had been upon the rack.
"How can I thank you?" she exclaimed. "If it had not been for you, I shudder to think what might have happened. You saved my life."
At this praise our hero blushed more than ever.
"I require no thanks," he said. "I am rewarded enough by knowing I have been of some service to you, but I think you are scarcely strong enough to be trusted with such high-spirited animals."
"My father would never have thought of such a thing," she replied. "He alighted at a cottage to visit one of his old friends, and while he was inside the ponies bolted. But here he comes, and I know he will be better able to thank you than I am."