be going too fast to permit of any jumping on or off his raft, and all they could do would be to giggle and shout, "Good-bye! Pleasant voyage!" while they whirled their hats.
"Flying the flume" is what the lumbermen called this method of navigation. It was a swift and easy means 'of reaching Red Cañon, and was safe enough as long as the voyager kept his place on the raft and there were no limbs or timbers projecting low over the flume ahead.
Sometimes a whole party of men would fly the flume, one behind the other, each on his own little raft, and once, when a mill-man had been crushed by a log in the yard and killed, a coffin had been made and his body had been floated down on a raft, with a grim Charon in the form of the grizzled foreman sitting up behind.
Martha, who always wanted to "go somewhere," had longed to fly the flume, but there had never been any occasion, and even had one occurred her father would not have permitted her to make such an adventurous journey.
One day Martha and Serena were coming from the post-office when, near the blacksmith shop, they saw a little group of villagers about a pretty horse that had just been shod by the blacksmith. The animal had a smooth, cream-white coat, with large brown spots on it, and a long flowing mane and tail.
"What a lovely pinto!" exclaimed Serena.
"Isn't he shiny?"
"A beauty," said Martha, "and he looks so intelligent. His eyes are almost human. How I should like to own him!"
"Come, Alexis," said the owner of the animal, who was a horse trainer, "do you like pretty girls?"
The man gave a side glance at Serena and Martha as he asked the question. Alexis bowed a decided affirmative.
"Do you like them when they disobey their mothers?" The horse shook his head, his mane switching about very prettily.
"What's your age?" Alexis pawed the ground five times with his right fore foot.
"You never lie about your age?" The horse said "no," in the same manner as before.
"Can you waltz? Let's see." The man whistled "Love, I will Love You Ever," and the horse waltzed about in the road.
