A Dangerous Ride 



Now, I spy a danger. 



—King Leab. 



No man can reasonably hope to get through this 

 world without sometimes losing his way among its 

 thorns or bucking his head against its dangers. The 

 latter are plentiful enough to keep him on the dodge 

 from those he sees, while he holds a wary eye at the 

 peep-hole of discretion for those that may be lying in 

 ambush. It isn't strange that he follows the advice 

 of the " tricksy Ariel " : 



"If of life you keep a care, 

 Shake off slumber and beware." 



Nor will it be strange if he continues to follow it, so 

 long as life is so sweet and death is so bitter. 



Life is sweet ? Yes, and quite as sweet to the sport 

 as it is to other people. I have had cause to be con- 

 scious of its sweetness, and sometimes to be a little 

 anxious for its safety. At one of these times I 

 chanced to be traveling on a single-track-railway train 

 which was rushing toward another coming in an op- 

 posite direction. On a well-regulated road, guarded 

 by well-regulated telegraph operators, anxiety might 

 have been groundless ; but before I get through with 



my story it will tell the reader that a telegraph oper- 



318 



