As the sun flashed on
Tom's shining wheel the horse gave a sudden leap, swerved to one
side, and then bolted down the dusty stretch, the woman screaming at
the top of her voice.
"A runaway!" cried Tom; "and partly my fault, too!"
Waiting not an instant the lad bent over his handle-bars and pedaled
with all his force. His bicycle seemed fairly to leap forward after
the galloping horse.
"Sit still! Don't jump out! Don't jump!" yelled the young inventor.
"I'll try to catch him!" for the woman was standing up in front of
the seat and leaning forward, as if about to leap from the wagon.
"She's lost her head," thought Tom. "No wonder! That's a skittish
horse."
Faster and faster he rode, bending all his energies to overtake the
animal. The wagon was swaying from side to side, and more than once
the woman just saved herself from being thrown out by grasping the
edge of the seat. She found that her standing position was a
dangerous one and crouched on the bottom of the swaying vehicle.
"That's better!" shouted Tom, but it is doubtful if she heard him,
for the rattling of the wagon and the hoofbeats of the horse drowned
all other sounds. "Sit still!" he shouted. "I'll stop the horse for
you!"
Trying to imagine himself in a desperate race, in order to excite
himself to greater speed, Tom continued on.
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