FAN NTS MISGIVINGS. 167 



was obliged to dismount and give her a *' stern 

 board." Even then, when once upon the river, 

 she trembled excessively, and looking into her 

 eye I could see the thought in her brain, and 

 knew that if she could speak she would say : 

 " I have every confidence in you, but I am a 

 female and you must make allowance for me. 

 You say the ice is two feet thick ; but I might 

 break in. Can't we go around by the bridge 

 at Albany or the ferry at New York.^ No? 

 * Come on, Fanny, is it ? * That's all well 

 enough for you. You say you will lead me 

 till I gain more confidence ; but these are 

 tracks of men. Horses weigh a great deal 

 more than men, and I don't see a single horse- 

 track on the snow ! " Caresses and sugar, 

 however, had some effect, but she stepped tim- 

 idly and gingerly along until we came to the 

 well marked sleigh-track. All at once her fears 

 vanished as she trod it with a firm step, and 

 permitting me to mount her, she loped over 

 the frozen river as if it had been a highway 

 upon the land. Animal instinct, was it ? No; 

 it was thought, reflection, calculation, like that 

 of a man, without his knowledge of safety — 

 nervousness, fear, distrust, like that of a 



