146 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
galloped, about five o’clock, triumphantly into the town, 
without an accident having occurred to man or horse 
during the whole course of the expedition—always 
excepting one tremendous fall sustained by Wilson. It 
was on the evening of the day we left the Grey sirs. We 
were all galloping in single file down the lava pathway, 
when suddenly I heard a cry behind me, and then the 
noise as of a descending avalanche. On turning round, 
behold! both Wilson and his pony lay stretched upon 
the ground, the first some yards in advance of the other. 
The poor fellow evidently thought he was killed; for he 
neither spoke nor stirred, but lay looking up at me with 
black, beady eyes, as I approached to his assistance. On 
further investigation, neither of the sufferers proved to 
be a bit the worse. 
The cook, and the rest of the party, did not arrive till 
about midnight; but I make no doubt that, when that 
able and spirited functionary did at length reascend the 
side of the schooner, his cheek must have burned with 
pride at the reflection, that during the short period of his 
absence on shore he had added to his other accomplish¬ 
ments that of becoming a most finished cavalier. I do 
not mean by that to imply that he was at all done . 
