TRAVELLING ADVENTURES. 137 



me that her travelling trunk had just fallen from the 

 sledge. She had immediately noticed the loss, as the 

 trunk was fastened beside the driver on the box in 

 such a way as to block the one small window. It 

 was very difficult in our confined position to make the 

 driver stop. At last I achieved this by breaking the 

 second small window, laid hold of him and threw him 

 down from his seat. The trunk was luckily found 

 again: the rope, which served to fasten it. had undoub- 

 tedly been cut. 



It soon became pretty clear that the driver was 

 dead-drunk, as he repeatedly drove us into the road- 

 side ditches. At last there remained nothing else for 

 me to do but to mount the box. and take the reins 

 from the driver's hands. He very soon after fell soundly 

 asleep, and neither scolding nor cuffing availed to 

 revive him. I for my part soon felt my feet becoming 

 benumbed, and when I tried to change the reins found 

 that both my hands had become quite frozen and 

 immovable. It was still possible for me to drive the 

 sledge again into the ditch, and to pull off my gloves 

 with my teeth. With the sudden stoppage the driver 

 had fallen from the box, and lay like a corpse at my 

 feet. I could therefore quite easily perform two useful 

 actions, viz. wash his head with snow and thereby also 

 thaw my own hands. It lasted a good while before 

 I felt the life return into them. Soon after the driver 

 also began to show signs of life, in that he made 

 grimaces and presently began to wail and implore for- 

 giveness. So in the darkness of the night we were 



