his feet, and a good runner, though much tramping over plowed fields and rough hills had given him a rather clumsy gait in walking.
But the horses were not built for racing, either, and they were dragging a heavy machine on soft ground. The iron wheels of the reaper were made with projections, to enable them to bite deeper into the earth, and thus turn the gears that operated the knives. And these iron wheels were a heavy drag.
So it is not surprising that, after a comparatively short run, the horses slackened their pace.
"Sit down! I'm comin'!" cried Sandy, and now Alice could hear him panting behind her.
In another instant she felt a jar on the machine, and then someone reached over her shoulder, and took the reins from her hands.
"I'll pull 'em down!" cried Sandy, balancing himself on a part of the machine, back of the seat on which Alice was riding.
The young farmer sawed hard on the lines and this, added to the fact that they had had enough of the hard run, caused the animals to slacken speed. They slowed down to a trot, and then to a walk, finally coming to a halt. And just in time, too, for right in front of them was a big stone fence, into which they might have crashed.
