Like a cat the little pony picked her way delicately down through the heather, faltered for a moment in the soft ground by the other side of the stream and then, at a word from her rider, jumped over and came quickly up to them.

Meanwhile, Dickie, looking rather white and worried, was trying to stand still, but his right leg was now covered to the knee. Mary, on the contrary, was behaving rather foolishly and hopping first on one leg, then on the other.

"Why don't you do something, David?" she squealed. "He's getting all swallowed up in it."

By this time David had got his knapsack off and was cautiously taking one step at a time towards the treacherous bright green of the bog. He could feel the water oozing in over his shoes.

"Take your shoes and socks off," called the girl on the pony. "You won't sink in so far."

He looked back gratefully at this sensible advice, and by the time he had followed it the girl was at his side.

"Now then," she said, "slide your feet over the bog and don't take big, heavy steps. Reach one hand behind you and hang on to me as you go. Is the little boy all right?"

Richard was so furious at being so addressed that he lurched forward and nearly lost his balance.

"Here!" he said. "I'm not a little boy."

"We're nine," squealed Mary from the background.

"Stand still, Dickie," said David sharply. "Now can you reach my hand? Steady! Now put both your hands on mine."

"When I say heave," said the girl, "we all pull, and the little boy must move his left foot just a step towards us. Now HEAVE!"

And they heaved to such purpose that there was a loud and succulent "plop" as an indignant Richard shot out of the mud and landed on his face at his rescuers' feet.

"You do look comic," laughed the girl as Dickie scrambled up. "If you could only see yourself! And I bet you smell like anything!"

But Richard could not see the joke. He did not like being laughed at. He went very red, and although he would not have admitted it for anything, he was very near tears and had to turn his back for a moment. But Mary knew how he was feeling. In a flash she was at his side and facing the stranger.

"Just you BE QUIET," she raged. "You'd look funny, too, if you'd fallen in there. P'raps you will one day. And he doesn't smell... and if he did just a bit... well, we like it. And if you don't like it I'll jump in, too, and then we'll both smell..."