the mud and water to the hard ground. Well, when I pulled in, the man
was there with his horse and cart, and I paid my fare, and stepped out
of the wherry, expecting the man to drive off and put me on shore; but
he, seeing that there was another wherry close at hand, says he must
wait for her passengers, and make one trip of it. I did not care how
soon we met, and waited very patiently until they pulled up to us. They
were not a little surprised to see me, and not a little annoyed either.
As for Peggy, she colored to her elbows, and then tried to put up an
impudent face on the matter. He looked both foolish and angry. They were
both very smart. She had on a white gown with a yellow handkerchief on
her shoulders, a green silk bonnet and blue feathers, and he was figged
out as fine as fivepence, with white jean trousers, and rings and
chains, and Lord knows what.

"'Well,' says Peggy, as bold as brass, 'who'd have thought to have seen
you here?'

"'I did not say that I was going to see my aunt,' replied I; 'but as you
did, who would have expected to see you here?'

"'Don't talk to me, young man,' said she, as red as fire, and turning
away to her beau.

"Just as she said this, the cart drove off, the horse floundering
through the mud, which was about three feet deep, with a matter of six
inches of water above it. As she turned away aft, I turned forward,
thinking what I should do next, and then I cast my eyes down, and
observed that it was a tilting cart as they use for carrying out manure,
and that if I took the two pegs out it would fall right back. I thought
this a capital trick. The carman was sitting on his horse, and it
couldn't matter to him, so I stepped out on the front of the cart, and
standing on the shafts, I first pulled out one peg and then another,
while they were busy talking to each other, with their heads so close
that his face was under her bonnet. As soon as the second peg was out, I
helped up the front of the cart a little, and back it went, shooting
them out right headforemost in the mud. You never saw such a scramble,
for they had caught hold of each other in their fright, and they rolled
and floundered, and were half smothered before they could recover their
feet; and then a pretty pickle they were in, wet to the skin, and
covered with mud from one end to the other; they could not see out of
their eyes. Peggy did nothing but scream and flounder--she was
frightened out of her wits--while the carm