In the slight confusion her hand relaxed its
grasp on the curb-rein, and at the same moment a locomotive, coming
along the side of the opposite mountain, blew a shrill whistle.
Instantly her horse had the bit in his teeth, and was off at a furious
pace.
At first she did not care, but soon found, with anxiety, that he
paid no attention to her efforts to check him, and that his pace was
passing into a mad run. The gorge was growing narrower, and the lofty
mountains stood, with their rocky feet, nearer and nearer together.
She could see through the intervening trees that the road and
rail-track were becoming closely parallel, and at last realized that
her horse was unmanageable.
When the engineer of the train saw Madge's desperate riding he
surmised that her horse was not under control, and put on extra steam
in order to take the exciting cause of the animal's terror out of the
way. He thought he could easily reach the summit of the clove where
the carriage-drive crossed the track before Madge, and then pass
swiftly over the down-grade beyond; but he had not calculated on the
terrific speed of the horse; and when at last the track and roadway
were almost side by side the frantic beast, with his pale rider, was
abreast of the train.
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