ROAD. 17 



stream, that wound between the hills, 

 and the snow having drifted, it required 

 the utmost caution to prevent the animal 

 I rode from floundering or falling in the 

 snow, as he was continually plunging up 

 to his girth. After proceeding about 

 seven miles, where the silence of the 

 night was only broken by the occasional 

 discharge of a fowling-piece, suggesting 

 the retreat of the French in the wilds of 

 Russia and Poland that occurred in the 

 previous winter, we observed the down 

 mail, with only a small part of the 

 roof visible, the other portion being com- 

 pletely covered with snow. 



Three miles farther we turned out of 

 the road to an inn, or farm-house, where 

 my two companions refreshed themselves 

 with whiskey, in which I joined them, 

 to drown all animosity that had arisen, 

 about the ill-treatment the superb animal 



VOL. II. C 



