"That's th' idea," approved Mr. Coleman, reining his impatience. They were descending a hill, at the bottom of which a slough crossed the trail. Fences to right and left forbade a detour. "I guess we'll have to drive right through it," said Daisy. "How about the hat?" demanded Mr. Coleman, who was now so close that his companion could barely move her elbow, "can't you get it off?" "Oh," Daisy looked up innocently, "I forgot about the hat. All right--there, it's off." She took off the hat and laid it in her lap. They had now reached the edge of the shallow slough in the valley-bottom, into which the livery horse waded, gingerly and slow. "Maybe he wants a drink," said Daisy; "whoa, pettie! Thirsty?" The horse halted and lowered his head to the water-level. "Poor fellow!" Daisy commented, as he drank in great famished gulps, "don't you ever water him, Dex? Aw, quit! Aw-w--you're mean! There, now--see what you've done," and, as Coleman, red and hot-eyed, drew back from kissing her, Daisy pointed to her hat, afloat on the slough. "That's nothin'," said Coleman, regarding the hat as it slowly floated away from the side of the buggy. "Oh, no," said Daisy, with sarcasm, "it just means I've got to go home and get another hat, before we start on this trip you were speaking of. I won't go into Toddburn bareheaded--not even for you." Coleman rose from his seat. "I'll sure get it for you, right now, Sweetness," he said, "if that's how you feel about it." "Well, you'd better hurry, for it's sailing away," Daisy advised; "no, you can't reach it over the wheel. You'll have to stand out on the step." Mr. Dexie Coleman, who believed in doing everything with grace and ease, scorned to grip the honest buggy-top for sensible support, as he poised himself on the iron step, like Hermes, tiptoe for flight, and extended an arm out over the water. He calculated, and rightly, that he could just reach the hat and keep his balance. But he had not reckoned with a gathering force behind him; and perhaps there was no more surprised man in Toddburn than this cavalier of the sewing machine when, a second or two later, just as his fingers closed upon the hat, a strong push from rearward propelled him sprawlingly into the slough. The water was only three feet deep; but, as he fell horizontally, he went right under.