WHEN the novelty of her introduction to Briarcroft had somewhat faded, and the excitement of the Lower School mutiny had subsided, Gipsy began to find the life more than a trifle dull. She had an adventurous temperament, and her roving life had given her a taste for constant change and variety, so the prim regime of the English boarding school seemed to her monotonous in the extreme. She chafed against the confinement and the regularity of the well-ordered arrangements. "I feel as if I were shut up in a box!" she declared. "How can you all go on every day so contentedly with this 'prunes and prism' business? When I was at school up-country in Australia the mistress used to notice when we got restless, and take us for a day's camp into the bush. The day girls would bring horses for us boarders to use (everybody rides out there), and off we'd go, each with our picnic basket on our saddle, and have the very jolliest good time you could imagine. It worked off our spirits, and we'd come back to lessons as fresh as daisies and as meek as lambs." "You get hockey here," objected Dilys, who generally stood up for Briarcroft institutions. "Not enough of it," sighed Gipsy. "I like hockey, but it's nothing to a day's riding." "Did your headmistress ride too?" enquired Lennie. "Rather! Miss Yorke was Colonial born, and could have sat a kangaroo, I should think! She was a different article from Poppie, I assure you." "Can't imagine Poppie controlling a fiery steed," giggled the girls. "I should like to see you on horseback, Gipsy," said Hetty. "I'd be only too glad to accommodate you, my dear, if you'd provide the gee-gee. I can tell you I'm just yearning for a canter." "Nothing but a clothes horse here," remarked Dilys facetiously. "Or the colt in the meadow beyond the hockey field," said Lennie. "The colt! Of course I'd forgotten the colt!" exclaimed Gipsy rapturously. "You'd never sit that wild thing! You'd have to ride him bareback. Even your wonderful cleverness can't do everything, I suppose!" said Gladys sarcastically. "I can ride bareback," returned Gipsy. "It's nearly as easy as with a saddle." "I'd like to see you catch him first." "That's perfectly possible--he wears a halter. Do you dare me to do it? How many chocolates will you give me if I do?" "A dozen, and a whole boxful if you ride him round the field." "Then I'll show you a little prairie practice this afternoon. I haven't lived in the Colonies for nothing!" "Don't, Gipsy, don't! It's too dangerous!" besought Hetty and Lennie. "She won't really--it's all brag!" sneered Gladys. "Is it indeed, Miss Gladys Merriman? Just wait till this afternoon, and I'll undeceive you." "I'll wait to buy the box of chocolates, though," sniggered Gladys.