SAVED BY A WHISTLE. 101 



long to relate, passed through my mind in a second, and 

 in that time I knew, to my astonishment, by a sort of 

 jerk in the train, that the driver increased instead of 

 diminished the speed at which we were going or, in 

 other words, that he absolutely put all the steam on he 

 could, and charged the living and phalanxed impediment that 

 seemed to threaten us with annihilation ! He (the 

 driver) must have been a downright good specimen of a 

 cool and high-couraged American, for he referred not to 

 his whistle until he was close upon the slumbering herd, 

 and then he let it off with so sudden an impetus that 

 every cow gave a start of terror, the herd separating 

 and making a furious effort to escape by jumping on 

 either side the line. On the right hand side, or the side 

 from which I was leaning, the last two cows had to 

 " cringe," or tuck in their tails and haunches, to miss the 

 " catcher," and that they just succeeded in doing by a 

 hair's breadth. 



It was with "a long-drawn sigh of satisfaction, and a 

 very religious and soul-felt thrill of thanksgiving, that 

 I then resumed my observation on the surrounding 

 country, resolving in my own mind that, if I survived 

 the dangers of the American rail, I should have passed 

 through the worst of all those impediments which are 

 said to render the life of man so remarkably uncertain. 

 When I resumed my place inside the carriages, and 

 entered into conversation with my kind friends, I told 

 them that the first thing we did in England was to in 

 sure the safety of a railway line by an adequate fence, 

 and that then, if cattle or men were found on it, the 

 English law was on the side of the railway company, 

 and trespassers of whatever sort were punished. In 

 reply to this the American gentlemen said that neither 



