VII.] . REYKJAVIK. 89 



As we approached Reykjavik, for the first time during the 

 whole journey we began to have some little trouble with the 

 relay of ponies in front. Whether it was that they were 

 tired, or that they had arrived in a district where they had 

 been accustomed to roam at large, I cannot tell ; but every 

 ten minutes, during the last six or seven miles, one or other 

 of them kept starting aside into the rocky plain, across 

 which the narrow bridle-road was carried, and cost us many 

 a weary chase before we could drive them into the track again. 

 At last, though not till I had been violently hugged, kissed, 

 and nearly pulled off my horse by an enthusiastic and rather 

 tipsy farmer, who mistook me for the Prince, we galloped, 

 about five o'clock, triumphantly into the town, without an 

 accident having occurred to man or horse during the whole 

 course of the expedition — always excepting one tremendous 

 fall sustained by Wilson. It was on the evening of the day 

 we left the Geysirs. We were all galloping in single file 

 down the lava pathway, when suddenly I heard a cry behind 

 me, and then the noise as of a descending avalanche. On 

 turning round, behold ! both Wilson and his pony lay 

 stretched upon the ground, the first some yards in advance 

 of the other. The poor fellow evidently thought he was 

 killed ; for he neither spoke nor stirred, but lay looking up 

 at me, with blank, beady eyes as I approached to his 

 assistance. On further investigation, neither of the sufferers 

 proved to be a bit the worse. 



The cook, and the rest of the party, did not arrive till 

 about midnight ; but I make no doubt that when that able 

 and spirited individual did at length reascend the side of the 

 schooner, his cheek must have burned with pride at the reflec- 

 tion, that during the short period of his absence on shore he 

 had added to his other accomplishments that of becoming a 

 most finished cavalier. I do not mean by that to imply that 

 he was at all done. Although we had enjoyed our trip so 

 much, I was not sorry to find myself on board. The 

 descent again, after our gipsy life, into the coquettish little 

 cabin, with its books and dear home faces, quite penetrated 



