TROUTINQ ON JESSUP'S RIVER. 513 



On we staggered bravely — splash ! splash ! drip ! drip ! 

 Above us, under, and on every side, the gelid rain ! As is 

 an incessant shower bath, far more exhausting than a pro- 

 tracted plunge — so was this wading through wet bushes 

 beneath the pitiless pelting rain. I am sure that it abstracted 

 a greater amount of vital heat and strength from us than 

 wading the same length of time in cold water would have 

 done. At least I never remember to have been more utterly 

 exhausted than when we reached the bridge, and found, to 

 our great joy, the wagon in waiting. 



Fortunately, our host had been prudent enough to bring 

 blankets with him, and wrapping our shivering bodies in 

 these, we hurried off on our return. It was no use going 

 to our shantee for comfort — the fire was out, and the rain 

 had set in for a week to come, and it was a poor affair at 

 best. Though it was a break-neck road, I urged him with 

 chattering teeth, to drive faster ; but the immovable Piscator 

 quietly suggested that I should "take it easy!" I stared at 

 the man, for I was excessively nervous and irritable, politely 

 wishing him in a warmer place with his philosophy. He only 

 laughed, and as that made me still more angry, I was soon 

 nearly warmed up again. 



Strange as the remedy may seem to those who are not 

 familiar with the miracles of bathing, I took forthwith a bath 

 of very cold water on reaching home. This warmed me 

 instantly and thoroughly, and then the flesh brush and dry 

 clothes completed the magical process of immediate transfer 

 from the arctic to the tropics, which my sensations underwent, 

 without the aid of fire or sun. 



I never felt more delightfully than I did when I sat down 



to a fine dinner that evening in the old Tavern, and very 



much of this pleasurable feeling of entire comfort I attributed 



to the prompt use of the cold bath. I have mentione 



Piscator's hydrophobia, so far as the external application o: 



33 



^^^M 



H 



