Marco Paul's Voyages and Travels; Vermont

ide

tomed to travel among forests and mountains. The driver was a rough young man,--for the boy who drove the coach up to the door was not the regular driver. He was not disposed to talk much, and h

y, "you are not big enough t

that drove the horses up to the door when

driver,--"but he'll break h

that he drove very

ver was

me drive a little way, and I'l

never can do any thing for me. You are

n such ill-humor, he thought he would say no more to him. A resentful reply to the epit

hat he has said, and conscience will often reprove him in silence, far more effectually than words could do it. This was the case in this instance. As they rode along in silence, the echo of the w

l piece of ground on ahead here a little way,

Marco had sometimes driven two horses, when riding out with his father in a barouche, up the Bloomingdale road in New York. He was therefore not entirely unaccustomed to t

one. At the end of the level piece of road there was a tavern, where they were going to stop to change the horses, and Marco asked the driver to let him turn the horses up to the door. The driver consented, keeping a close watch all the time, ready to seize the reins again at a moment's notice, if there had been any appearance of difficulty. But t

hand, and acquired a sort of confidence in his power over the horses,--greater to be sure than there was any just

in the presence of the passengers within the coach, that he did not become talkative and noisy, as is frequently the case in such circumstances; but was rather stupid and sleepy. In fact, n

with me now, there is anoth

ficulty, and allowed the driver to help him up. The new passenger got inside. Forester felt somewhat uneasy at having Marco ride any longer on the top, especially now that the sailor was going up too. But the coach was full. He himself was we

ow helpless he had rendered himself by his excesses, and how unceremonio

rn voice,--"hold on well, or you'll be down head foremos

ar which passed from the top of the coach down by t

a time, being continually afraid that he would fall off. He could do nothing, however, to help him, for he himself was sitting at one end of the seat while the sailor was upon the other, the driver being between them. In the mean time the sun gradually went down and the twilight c

es to the trot, as they were leaving the bridge, when the forward wheels struck down heavily into the hollow, giving the front of the coach a sudden pitch forward and downward. Marco grasped the iron bar at his end of the seat, and saved himself; and the driver, who was habitually on his guard, had his feet so braced against the fender before him, that he would not have fallen. But the poor sailor, entirely unprepared for the shock, and perhaps unable to resist it if he had been prepared, pitched forward, lost his hold, went over the fender, and was tumbling down, as the driver had predicted, head foremost, under the horses' heels. The driver seized hold of him

ntering away, with the reins dangling about their heels. The first impulse, in such a case, would be to scream aloud, in terror,--which would have only made the horses run the fas

Acci

he bridge. The jolt had aroused them a little, but there was nothing to indicate to them the accident which had occu

r the fender to the pole, and then walk along upon that a little way till he could gather up the reins. Then he thought that if he could get back again with them to the driver's seat, perhaps he could stop the horses. Marco was an expe

ands to the fender and other parts of the front of the coach. He found his position here more unstable than he had expected; for the coach being upon springs, the forward part rose and fell with many jerks and surges, as t

isturbed by the strange sensations which they experienced, and began to canter again; but Marco, who felt more and more confidence every moment, pushed boldly on, gathered up the reins, and got all the ends together. Then taking the ends of

; but just at that moment he saw that they were coming up opposite to the farm house, which had been in sight, at a distance, when they were crossing the bridge. So he thought that though he could not stop the horses, he might perhaps have strength enough to turn them off from the road into the farmer's yard; and that then they could be more easily stopped. In this he succeeded. By pulling the off r

coach,--"a post-office?" They thought the stage h

top of the coach down the road to see what had become of the driver. To his great joy, he saw him running up behind the co

r! what's t

his clothes,--and, taking off his hat, he

ter, driver?" sa

ly that drunkard of a sail

aimed half a dozen vo

he driver; "I don't bel

ked where he was, and the driver told them that

id Forester; "open the door,

of the road, safe. I don't believe he's hurt any.

ion, and in such a place; and finally it was agreed that the farmer should go down

and so they contrived to make room for him within. As Marco descended fr

thought they all came down wit

did, and I climbed down u

't tell them inside that I tumbled off. Tell them I g

g seriously hurt, was not so wonderful as it might seem. Horses have generally an instinctive caution about not stepping upon any thing under their feet. If a little child were lying asleep in the middle of a road, and a horse were to come galloping along without any rider, the mother, who should see the sight from the window of the house, would doubtless be exceedingly terrified; but in all probability the horse would pass the child wi

med to feel some fear lest the stage should upset. One, who sat near the door, put his arm out at the window over the door, so as to get his hand upon the handle

thrusting out their legs and arms in all directions, when they find they are going over, and thus get them broken. You ought to fold your arms and d

e was almost afraid to venture this expedient, but he had no time for thought. He wheeled his horses out,--just escaped the hind wheel of the wagon--ran along by the road-side a short distance, with the wheels on one side, down very near the gutter,--and then, just as he was coming back safely into the road again, the forward wheel nearest the middle of the road, struck a small stone, and threw the coach over. The top rested upon the bank, and the horses were suddenly stopped. Sometimes, on such occasions, the transom bolt, as it is called, that is, the bolt by which the forward wheels are fastened to the carriage, comes out, and the horses run off with the wheels. It did n