GUARDS 8i 



coachman every possible assistance, from the mending 

 of a splintered pole to the putting on of the drag. The 

 latter performance was not altogether devoid of danger, 

 and one day Bayzand slipped and fell, catching his foot 

 in the roller bolt; when his cries for assistance were at 

 length heard he was extricated from his perilous position, 

 with one of his toes broken. He was taken to the Staple 

 Hotel at Witney, and a doctor came and put the matter 

 right, but the luckless guard was destined to prove the 

 trite maxim that misfortunes never come singly, for the 

 old woman deputed to attend on him administered the 

 dressing for his foot as internal medicine, and Bayzand's 

 career nearly came to an abrupt termination in con- 

 sequence. 



A guard on every coach would seem an indispensable 

 adjunft, but they were often looked on more in the light 

 of a luxury than a necessity. A traveller from Ross 

 refused Bayzand his tip on the plea that on a day coach 

 he was a superfluity. The guard in question thought 

 unutterable things, but his spirits revived a little when 

 he discovered a bag belonging to the niggardly gentle- 

 man; if a guard was not needed it was clearly no place of 

 his to look after the luggage, and he promptly sent it off 

 to the receiving office. 



Next day the passenger came In quest of his property 



and was told where to go for it. The incident apparently 



convinced him of the inadvisability of incurring the 



enmity of the guard, for on his return journey he took a 



seat next to him, and both tacitly ignoring their late 



difference of opinion chatted pleasantly together, and 

 6 



