112 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



of indescribable agony from her attendant arrested her. 

 Her servant was on the opposite side, endeavouring to 

 rein in his unwilling horse, and in his face there was a 

 horrible and convulsed look that terrified his alarmed 

 mistress. To her anxious questions, he only replied 

 by groans, which too truly betrayed his sufferings ; 

 at last he pointed to the stream before him, and 

 exclaimed, * / cannot, dare not, cross it ! Ohy God ! 

 I am lost ! — the dog — the dog I ' 



" What situation could be more frightful than that 

 in which the lady found herself ? In the centre of a 

 desolate and unpeopled moor, far from assistance, and 

 kft alone with a person afflicted with decided madness. 

 She might, it is true, have abandoned him ; for the 

 terrors of the poor wretch would have prevented him 

 from crossing the rivulet ; but, with extraordinary 

 courage, she returned, seized the bridle fearlessly, and, 

 notwithstanding the outcries of the unhappy man, 

 forced his horse through the water, and never left his 

 side, until she fortunately overtook some tenants of 

 her brother returning from a neighbouring fair. 



** I arrived on a visit the third evening after this 

 occurrence, and the recollection of that poor old man's 

 sufferings has ever since haunted my memory. All that 

 medical skill and affectionate attention on his master's 

 part could do to assuage his pain, and mitigate the 

 agonies he occasionally underwent, was done. At 

 length, the moment that was devoutly prayed for came. 

 He died on the sixth morning. 



" From this horrible fate nothing but his own deter- 

 mination preserved my relative : and, by the timely 

 use of a painful remedy, excision and cautery of the 

 wound, he escaped this dreadful disease. 



