G8 FROAf BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



bridge. The ancient i)lanks have decayed, until 

 many holes have been made in them large enough 

 for a horse's foot to pass through, while in long- 

 sections of the bridge the spaces between the 

 planks are so wide that first one wheel, and then 

 another, slips down, until the hub strikes. Need- 

 less to say, we walked across that bridge, while 

 Gillies and Frank danced and pranced onward 

 before us ; Gillies distracted to keep his toes away 

 from Frank's hoofs, and Frank distracted to keep 

 his hoofs away from the holes in the planks. 



The next two days were rainy : Sunday, while 

 we rested in Baddeck, and Monday, when we 

 bade farewell to the Bras d'Or. In a drizzle we 

 steamed from Baddeck to Grand Narrows, — I 

 recall a flock of ducklings swimming madly away 

 from the steamer ; we breakfasted at the Nar- 

 rows, — I remember seeing a heron catching 

 frogs in a meadow ; in a drizzle we crossed the 

 Strait of Canso, — I recall a group of 5^oung 

 Micmac Indians coasting down a slippery bank 

 to the water's edge, crawling up and coasting 

 (that is, sitting) do^vn again, until fog hid 

 them from us, and us from them ; still in driz- 

 zle we passed Tracadie with its Trappist monas- 

 tery, and Antigonish with the pretentious cathe- 

 dral of the Bishop of Arichat ; in drizzle hours 

 came and hours went, until, late in the afternoon, 

 we passed through the Cobequid Mountains, 



