than the road and a much quicker route. A mile below there was a station where she might get upon a raft and start on the flying trip. It did not occur to her that she had never taken a flume journey. She would dare anything for that horse. She struck Kittie smartly with her switch and soon she was at the flume station, where the water ran slower for a little way in an almost level space. She knew the mill-man there and he agreed to take care of her home. He also nailed the planks together for a raft, and in ten minutes after she reached the station she was ready for the journey.
"Sit straight up, Marthy, on this seat I've made for you and be careful not to move to one side or the other. You'll get there on time, I guess, if the other girl ain't got too big a start."
Martha took her position aboard the raft and, full of a strange new excitement, she saw herself and her odd craft move slowly at first and then gather speed. Her hair, which she always wore in curls, swept back from her head and her skirt blew in the wind, while her hat would have gone had not the elastic band slipped down upon her neck.
"Good-bye!" yelled the mill-man when she had made a turn. She waved her hand to him, but could not speak. Swiftly the raft glided down the flume, whizzing past great rocks and trees that almost grazed her shoulder. Often she could have reached out and touched the trunk of a pine, and sometimes soft branches scraped her side, though she ducked her head to avoid violent contact. Sometimes she caught glimpses of the road, but she saw nothing of Serena. She held her breath in awe when she flew along in the places where the flume was bracketed upon the side of a steep, high cliff, and she dared not look down to where the river lay like a mere ribbon below her.
On and on she sped, and, though she had never traversed this route before, it seemed to her that she must be nearing the end, when she caught sight of a dust cloud down the road. Gaining upon it she saw that it enveloped Serena and her horse. The flume ran on a gentle decline here, and when Martha overtook her rival, which happened to be where road and flume came near together, the girls could distinguish each other veiy plainly. Martha gave a shout and cried:
"Good-bye, Serena!"
