298 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
this the others started on their way; I finished light- 
ing my pipe, mounted my horse and started after 
them. 
There were many turns in the path and as they 
were trotting along I soon lost sight of them. I 
was enjoying myself, however, and let my horse 
walk along at his leisure, while I let my eyes wander 
gratefully over the scene before me; no sound was 
to be heard but the singing of the birds. I just 
gave the horse his head and sat or lolled in the 
saddle, smoking and day-dreaming. 
I was rudely recalled from dreamland by some¬ 
thing altogether realistic, a wheelbarrow which was 
turned bottom-up on the path. The horse saw it 
before I did, evidently, and was so violently pre¬ 
judiced against it that he tried at once to avoid it, 
without considering whether I disliked wheelbar¬ 
rows or not, for the first thing I knew I was in the 
icy waters of the ditch, which at that point was 
six or eight feet deep. My cap floated away at 
once, but I kept my pipe in my mouth and when I 
came to the surface still had it. 
I was soon out of the water, of course, and then 
was seized with an uncontrollable fit of laughter. 
I just stood and laughed and laughed and laughed 
again. The horse ran only a short distance and 
then stopped and waited for me. I took off my 
clothes and wrung them out; when I put them on 
