MY FIRST TRENCH CAB. 21 



station. The omnibus had gone, all passengers save 

 myself were swallowed up in it, and time pressed ; so, 

 amidst the gaping amusement of a crowd, I packed 

 my luggage in an open cab, and climbed on the top 

 of it with Malwood and the terriers, crying out to the 

 imaginary driver (he did not drive, he only held fast 

 to the reins and swore at the imperturbable " tit," 

 who hobbled in a sort of trance between the shafts,) 

 to make all the haste he could. My demand for more 

 speed having no further effect than to quicken the 

 driver's action, and to peril his soul from his frequent 

 breach of the third commandment, with a longing wish 

 for my forest fly, I suggested to my temporary cou- 

 rier that he should inform the foreign subject on the 

 elevated seat that, if he did not go fast enough to 

 catch the train, I would rather go to prison than pay 

 him. This settled the question : the driver's action 

 got furious, his oaths and desecrations more frequent, 

 the cracks of his long whip perfectly alarming to my 

 doss, while he drowned the noise of his own wheels 

 with r's, so well pronounced and so continuously 

 rattled, interlarded with " allez ! allez ; " that the 

 ** timber-legged toddler " at last awakened from his 

 leathern trance, thinking, probably, that the man 

 who tugged at his head from behind him had gone 

 mad, and brought me to the station but just in time. 



c 3 



