ACCIDENTS 121 



girl ^vlio took out that clieering glass was not 

 able to reach up to the roof, and so the ostler, 

 who Avas holding the horses' heads, very impru- 

 dently left them, to do the polite, when the 

 animals, hearing some one getting on the coach, 

 and thinking (for coach-horses did actually do 

 something like it) that it was the coachman, 

 started off, and trotted at their ordinary speed 

 the Avliole seven miles to the door of the " King's 

 Arms " at Plymouth, Avhere they Avere in the 

 habit of stopping to discharge some of the coach- 

 freight. On their AAay they had to cross the 

 Laira Bridge and through the toll-bar, and did so, 

 keeping clear of eA'erything on the road in as 

 Avorkmanlike a manner as though the skilfullest 

 of AA'hips AAas directing their course. Mrs. Cox, 

 hoAA^ever, AAas terrified. Afraid to scream lest 

 she should startle the horses, she had to content 

 herself Avitli gesticulating and trying to attract 

 the attention of the people met or passed on the 

 road. When the horses drcAV up in an orderly 

 fashion at the " King's Arms," and the ostlers 

 came bustling? out to attend to their duties, they 

 AA^ere astonished to see no one but the aft'righted 

 Mrs. Cox on the outside, and two inside 

 passengers, Avho had been in total ignorance of 

 AA^hat Avas happening. The coachman and guard, 

 in a A'ery alarmed state, soon came up in a post- 

 chaise. It took many quarterns of gin to steady 

 the nerves of the proprietress of the fish-stall, 

 and the incident became the chief landmark of 

 her career. 



