68 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



bridge. The ancient planks have decayed, until 

 many holes have been made in them large enough 

 for a horse's foot to pass through, while in long 

 sections of the bridge the spaces between the 

 planks are so wide that first one wheel, and then 

 another, slips down, until the hub strikes. Need- 

 less to say, we walked across that bridge, while 

 Gillies and Frank danced and pranced onward 

 before us ; Gillies distracted to keep his toes away 

 from Frank's hoofs, and Frank distracted to keep 

 his hoofs away from the holes in the planks. 



The next two days were rainy : Sunday, while 

 we rested in Baddeck, and Monday, when we 

 bade farewell to the Bras d'Or. In a drizzle we 

 steamed from Baddeck to Grand Narrows, I 

 recall a flock of ducklings swimming madly away 

 from the steamer; we breakfasted at the Nar- 

 rows, I remember seeing a heron catching 

 frogs in a meadow ; in a drizzle we crossed the 

 Strait of Canso, I recall a group of young 

 Micmac Indians coasting down a slippery bank 

 to the water's edge, crawling up and coasting 

 (that is, sitting) down again, until fog hid 

 them from us, and us from them ; still in driz- 

 zle we passed Tracadie with its Trappist monas- 

 tery, and Antigonish with the pretentious cathe- 

 dral of the Bishop of Arichat ; in drizzle hours 

 came and hours went, until, late in the afternoon, 

 we passed through the Cobequid Mountains, 



