Armed with a long list of necessaries, two huge market baskets, and Miss Jones's hand-bag containing a supply of money, they started off to the farm to find Geordie, a half-witted boy who did odd jobs about the fold-yard. After a considerable hunt through the barns they discovered him at last inside the pigsty, and bribed him with twopence to go and catch the pony. Dandy was enjoying himself in the field, and did not come readily; indeed, the girls were almost despairing before he was finally led in by his forelock. The little conveyance was a small, very old-fashioned gig, and though in its far-off youth it may have possessed a smart appearance, it was now decidedly more useful than ornamental. The varnish was worn and scratched, the cushions had been re-covered with cheap American cloth, the waterproof apron was threadbare, and one of the splash-boards was split. The harness also was of the most ancient description, and the rough pony badly needed clipping, so that the whole turn-out was deplorably shabby and second-rate. "It's hardly the kind of thing one would drive in round the Park!" laughed Aveline. "Scarcely! It's the queerest little egg-box on two wheels I've ever seen. But what does it matter? Nobody knows us in Ledcombe. The main point is, will it get us over the ground?" "I wish we'd bicycles instead!" "But we couldn't bring back a whole cargo of stores on them. I think it's top-hole!" With much laughter and many little jokes the girls tucked themselves into their funny conveyance, evidently greatly to the interest of Dandy, who turned his head anxiously as they mounted the step. "He do be a wise 'un!" explained Geordie. "You see, sometimes Mr. Rivers takes his father-in-law, as weighs seventeen stone, and, with a calf or maybe a young pig as well, it do make a big load. Dandy don't be one to overwork hisself. I reckon you'll have to use the whip to he!" Neither of the girls had even the most elementary experience of driving, but Raymonde, as the elder, and the one who in general possessed the greater amount of nerve, boldly seized the reins and armed herself with the whip. Geordie released Dandy's head, and gave him a sounding smack as a delicate hint to depart, a proceeding which brought clouds of dust from his shaggy coat, and caused him to scramble suddenly forward, and plunge down the lane at quite an adventurous and stylish pace. "If he won't go, just cuss at him!" yelled Geordie as a last piece of advice. Though Dandy might make a gallant beginning, he had no intention of breaking the record for speed, and at the end of a few hundred yards dropped into an ambling jog-trot, a form of locomotion which seemed to jolt the badly hung little gig to its uttermost. "It's rather a painful form of exercise!" gasped Aveline, setting her feet firmly in an attempt to avoid the jarring. "I believe something must be wrong with the springs. Can't you make him go faster?" "Only if I beat him; and then suppose he runs away?"