ACCIDENT. 273 



instantly get down and assist your father, 

 I will administer it myself." I made him 

 descend with me ; I then asked the gentle- 

 man if he were much hurt. He replied 

 in the negative, though he appeared to be 

 very much shaken. He expressed a wish 

 for a hackney coach, and, having attended 

 him into it, I directed my porter to get 

 on the box, and see that he was taken to 

 his proper destination. 



As the Winter approached the loading 

 fell off, so much so on that road in par- 

 ticular, that the old Cheltenham coach was 

 discontinued, and the traffic left entirely 

 to us. Even then we loaded very in- 

 differently. Finding that what little we 

 did carry interfered with the " Ox- 

 ford Defiance," the pet drag of my 

 would-be cannibal friend, he persuaded 

 my London employer to drop it, which 

 he suddenly did a week or two after 

 Christmas, leaving me to ruminate on 



YOL. II. T 



