A PLEASANT TRAVELLING COMPANION. 69 



I had already resolved on trying the passage, when I 

 saw two horsemen coming down the hill towards me. 

 My difficulties were now at an end ; one of them took 

 me up behind, and JL was landed all dry on the other 

 side. 



I kept on along the somewhat inclined road, some- 

 times slipping, sometimes sinking deep in mud, abusing 

 all American roads and American weather, when, not 

 very far from the little town of Versailles, I saw a 

 man with a rifle coming down the hill towards me. 

 He did not seem to be keeping a very steady course, 

 and when we came nearer, I saw clearly that I had 

 not made a great mistake in supposing him to be very 

 drunk. When he came up to me, he winked with his 

 glassy eyes, and shook me heartily by the hand : so far 

 so good : but when he caught sight of a bottle I had 

 slung by my side, he made a sudden grasp at it ; how- 

 ever, I was too quick for him, and, like a bear defend- 

 ing her cubs, I wrenched it out of his hand, and then, 

 with the most imperturbable look in the world, I said 

 " That is not for you," and placed it in my pocket. He 

 yielded to his fate ; but, seeing my double-barrelled gun, 

 he wanted to examine it closer, and to have a shot 

 with it. By this time I had had enough of it, and 

 would not trust him, so I turned on my heel and con- 

 tinued my journey. He called out " Stop ! " I took 

 no notice ; again he called out, " Stop ! " and I dis- * 

 tinctly heard him cock his rifle. I turned instantly, 

 taking my gun from my shoulder, but too late ; 

 his ball went whistling just over my head, and the 

 echo repeated the sharp crack of his rifle. I now lost 

 all patience, and snatching the whalebone ramrod out 



