^Nimrod ' 



front ; but you '11 have the gammon-hoard all to yourself, 

 and your luggage is in the hind boot.' ' Gammon-board ! 

 Pray, what 's that ? Do you not mean the basket ? ' ' Oh 

 no, sir,' says John, smiling — * no such a thing on the road 

 now. It is the hind-dickey, as some call it, where you '11 

 be as comfortable as possible, and can sit with your back 

 or your face to the coach, or hoth^ if you like.' ' Ah, ah,' 

 continues the old gentleman ; ' something new again, I 

 presume.' However, the mystery is cleared up ; the ladder 

 is reared to the hind-wheel, and the gentleman seated on 

 the gammon-board. 



Before ascending to his place, our friend has cast his 

 eye on the team that is about to convey him to Hartford 

 Bridge, the next stage on the great western road, and he 

 perceives it to be of a different stamp from that which he 

 had seen taken from the coach at Bagshot. It consisted of 

 four moderate-sized horses, full of power, and still fuller of 

 condition, but with a fair sprinkling of blood ; in short, the 

 eye of a judge would have discovered something about them 

 not very unlike galloping. ' All right ! ' cried the guard, 

 taking his key-bugle in his hand ; and they proceeded up 

 the village at a steady pace, to the tune of ' Scots wha hae 

 wi' Wallace bled,' and continued at that pace for the first 

 five miles. ' / am landed' thinks our friend to himself. 

 Unluckily, however, for the humane and cautious old gentle- 

 man, even the Regulator was about to show tricks. Although 

 what is now called a slow coach, she is timed at eight miles 

 in the hour through a great extent of country, and must, 



195 



