// made him jump. 35 



throw the bag into the cart. The other two bags were 

 deposited in it in the same way. 



Another misadventure that he had was of a more 

 dangerous character. It shall be described in his own 

 words. 



"It looks," he says, "more like fiction than reality, 

 but is none the less true. One fine summer morning 

 shortly after the break of day, I was going home from 

 the moor with the empty cart. I had been up all 

 night, and was very tired. Our way was along the 

 bank of a burn. I was sitting on the edge of the cart, 

 in a state between sleeping and waking. Meantime 

 the horse had come too near the edge of a waterfall, 

 and, as I felt the cart going over, I myself sprang over 

 into the water. The horse and cart came down at 

 the same time, and, most wonderful to relate, in 

 tumbling over sideways both had made a complete 

 somersault, the horse falling on his feet and the cart 

 the right side up, with nothing broken, and no hurt to 

 the horse or myself. The fall might be ten or twelve 

 feet, into water about three feet deep. No doubt the 

 depth of the water helped to save us, but had I been 

 sound asleep and not felt the cart going over, or had 

 I not leaped timeously beyond where the horse and 

 cart fell, I should in all probability have been smashed 

 under them. Fortunately there was a gradual slope 

 from the burn to the level ground, so we made our 

 way out safely, with nothing more than the fright. 

 Riding on a horse, you may trust him and sleep on his 

 back. He will not go over a precipice or run against 

 a post, but he does not seem able to calculate for any- 

 thing beyond himself. He gives every attention to 



