EXPECTED ATTACK. 11 



dant, but to this, too, a good ride of from twelve 

 to sixteen hours renders a traveller astonishingly 

 callous. 



The second day of our journey we w^ere on 

 horseback for about sixteen hours, the greater 

 part of this time in as pouring a rain as can be 

 imagined, much more heavy than is ever seen in 

 England. After about eight hours' riding, finding 

 ourselves very cold and very wet, we began to 

 think that some cold mutton we carried in a 

 pannier would console us, in some small degree, 

 for our misfortunes. We came accordingly to 

 the determination to halt for a short time in an 

 open space on the side of a hill, where there was 

 grass for the horses to eat. Scarcely, however, 

 had we commenced to unpack the provision bas- 

 ket, when we observed, at a little distance, twenty 

 or thirty Albanians coming towards us with consi- 

 derable rapidity, shouting, and firing their guns, 

 like riflemen skirmishing. As they continued to ap- 

 proach us fast, we quickly stood to our arms, and 

 made up our minds to shew as good a fight as we 

 could. The numbers were on the side of the Al- 

 banians, but our guns were double-barrelled, and 

 not so likely to miss fire as theirs. Still we should 



