A NIGHT'S RIDE.


Harry jumped from the ground, kissed his wife, called her "old girl,"
and told her to be happy, and got on his horse at the garden gate.
Both the ladies came off the veranda to see him start. "It's as dark
as pitch," said Kate Daly.

"That's because you have just come out of the light."

"But it is dark--quite dark. You won't be late, will you?" said the
wife.

"I can't be very early, as it's near ten now. I shall be back about
twelve." So saying, he broke at once into a gallop, and vanished into
the night, his young groom scampering after him.

"Why should he go out now?" Kate said to her sister.

"He is afraid of fire."

"But he can't prevent the fires by riding about in the dark. I
suppose the fires come from the heat."

"He thinks they come from enemies, and he has heard something. One
wretched man may do so much when every thing is dried to tinder. I do
so wish it would rain."

The night, in truth, was very dark. It was now midsummer, at which
time with us the days are so long that the coming of the one almost