222 DRIVING. 



fine light hands and a good use of his whip. He was very 

 fortunate as a rule in freedom from accidents, but one day they 

 crowded in upon him in a very extraordinary manner ; perhaps 

 just as a hint that those sort of things did or might happen 

 sometimes, or as a reminder that coaches, however strong to 

 appearance, might have a weak spot in them. Jack came out 

 of the Golden Cross one morning on his journey to Oxford, 

 sitting behind as good and quick a team as ever were driven, 

 with a flower in his button-hole and a cheery anecdote for his 

 box passenger, or some remarks on the passing carriages and 

 horses. He had a full load, and a good bit of luggage. All 

 went well till they were in the Kensington Road, just opposite 

 Holland House, when crack went the front axletree, and off 

 the box went Jack, falling on to the pole with his heels forward 

 and his head towards the coach. One of the wheelers was a 

 mare and a tremendous kicker. She smashed his hat and cut 

 the collar of his coat to ribbons, but most fortunately never 

 touched him. He managed to extricate himself, jumped on 

 one of the leaders and galloped back to the Golden Cross, 

 Charing Cross, got a fresh coach and a couple of porters, and 

 hurried back to his passengers and luggage, which were soon 

 loaded upon the coach he had brought. Things went well till 

 they got to Brentford, when right in the middle of the town 

 crack went the front axletree of that coach. Fortunately Jack 

 did not come off the box this time, and beyond the annoyance 

 of the delay no one was the worse. He had to get another 

 coach, and was very late into Oxford. He was a great many 

 years on the road, and had never known an axletree of a coach 

 break but on that one day strange that two should have gonej 

 one so immediately after the other ! Good old Jack Adams 

 was one of the few who saved a good bit of money, and he and 

 his excellent wife survived for many years after the coaches 

 were run off the road by the rail, and lived in peace and 

 comfort. He used to come to Badminton every year in the 

 winter or the spring, and enjoyed driving some of the many 

 pied or skewbald horses that were there in those days, or 



