the racing honor of a school was at stake;
and he ran as never before to get the
better of the tricky gusts and seize the
parachute--faster, even, than the
nickum, that mysterious youth, had run,
when he saved the day for the mountain
team at baseball.

"Hoot mon! Dinna ye let it get away
frae ye into the dar-rk woods!" skirled
Andrew, equally excited, and rilled with
awe of the raven parachute now springing,
like a great, black mushroom, out of
the night--and of the firefly which had
been up so high.

"Oh! it is--it is drifting towards the
dark spruce woods--where we'll have
hard work to find it."

In the wild chase after the prize, Pem-rose
made a good third, as she thus shouted
her fear.

"See--oh! see, it is landing," she
cried again, "c-coming down--touching
earth."

Yes! for one fleeting instant it did
[[239]]

p238 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p239w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p240

v?