"Oh, this ain't bad for a mountain road," the young farmer declared, calmly. "Oh, oh!" squealed 'Phemie, the wheel on her side suddenly sinking into a deep rut, so that she slid to the extreme end of the board. "Better ketch holt on me, Miss," advised Lucas, crooking the arm nearest 'Phemie. "You city folks ain't useter this kind of travelin', I can see." But 'Phemie refused, unwilling to be "beholden" to him, and the very next moment the ponies clattered over a culvert, through which the brown flood of a mountain stream spurted in such volume that the pool below the road was both deep and angry-looking. There was a washout gullied in the road here. Down went the wheel on 'Phemie's side, and with the lurch the young girl lost her insecure hold upon the plank. With a screech she toppled over, plunging sideways from the wagon-seat, and as the hard-bitted ponies swept on 'Phemie dived into the foam-streaked pool! CHAPTER VI NEIGHBORS Lucas Pritchett was not as slow as he seemed. In one motion he drew in the plunging ponies to a dead stop, thrust the lines into Lyddy's hands, and vaulted over the wheel of the farm wagon. "Hold 'em!" he commanded, pulling off the long, snuff-colored overcoat. Flinging it behind him he tore down the bank and, in his high boots, waded right into the stream. Poor 'Phemie was beyond her depth, although she rose "right side up" when she came to the surface. And when Lucas seized her she had sense enough not to struggle much. "Oh, oh, oh!" she moaned. "The wa--water is s-so cold!" "I bet ye it is!" agreed the young fellow, and gathering her right up into his arms, saturated as her clothing was, he bore her to the bank and clambered to where Lyddy was doing all she could to hold the restive ponies. "Whoa, Spot and Daybright!" commanded the young farmer, soothing the ponies much quicker than he could his human burden. "Now, Miss, you're all right----" "All r-r-right!" gasped 'Phemie, her teeth chattering like castanets. "I--I'm anything _but_ right!" "Oh, 'Phemie! you might have been drowned," cried her anxious sister. "And now I'm likely to be frozen stiff right here in this road. Mrs. Lot wasn't a circumstance to me. She only turned to salt, while I am be-be-coming a pillar of ice!" But Lucas had set her firmly on her feet, and now he snatched up the old overcoat which had so much amused 'Phemie, and wrapped it about her, covering her from neck to heel. "In you go--sit 'twixt your sister and me this time," panted the young man. "We'll hustle home an' maw'll git you 'twixt blankets in a hurry." "She'll get her death!" moaned Lyddy, holding the coat close about the wet girl. "Look out! We'll travel some now," exclaimed Lucas, leaping in, and having seized the reins, he shook them over the backs of the ponies and shouted to them.