THE OVERTHROW OF THE SLEDGE. 253 



route, we could not help trembling. An involuntary 

 shudder shot through' every limb, and we felt, with grate- 

 ful hearts, that it was only by the mercy of Providence 

 we had escaped a frightful death. 



We still continued our journey in the direction of Que- 

 bec ; but as night came on, our guide mistook his route 

 at a point where two roads branched ofT. A stout fence 

 of thorns, whose tops alone were visible above the level 

 of the snow, at length interposed itself as an effectual bar- 

 rier to our advance. Fortunately, a house was situated at 

 no great distance from the spot, and on the threshold of 

 the door stood a kindly old woman, who hailed us to 

 make known the error into which we had unwittingly 

 fallen. 



The reader will scarcely believe that our conductor, in- 

 stead of endeavouring to extricate us from our embar- 

 rassment, began to bellow like a calf ! Then all at once, 

 having offered up this sacrifice to Despondency, he re- 

 covered breath, and began to curse and swear like a shame- 

 less miscreant ! Finally, he seized the two horses of the 

 sledge by the bridle, and precipitating them and himself 

 into the midst of the snow, he contrived to wheel iis into 

 the right direction. 



For a few seconds the horses reared and kicked ; the 

 conductor redoubled his oaths and shouts ; we leaped the 

 hedge, and with a sudden and wholly unparalleled sum- 

 mersault, came down dn the other side, the sledge with its 

 bottom upwards, the horses on their backs, the driver 

 on his head, and Maclean and I on our stomachs, at about 

 ten paces from our vehicle and our steeds. Fortunately, 

 nothing was broken ; neither our ribs nor the traces of 



