rse gave me several unmeaning cuts
with the whip, though I was fairly off. There had been a good deal of
road-mending going on, and even where the stones were not freshly laid
down there were a great many loose ones about. My driver was laughing
and joking with the lady and the children, and talking about the country
to the right and the left; but he never thought it worth while to keep
an eye on his horse or to drive on the smoothest parts of the road; and
so it easily happened that I got a stone in one of my fore feet.

Now, if Mr. Gordon or John, or in fact any good driver, had been there,
he would have seen that something was wrong before I had gone three
paces. Or even if it had been dark a practiced hand would have felt by
the rein that there was something wrong in the step, and they would have
got down and picked out the stone. But this man went on laughing and
talking, while at every step the stone became more firmly wedged between
my shoe and the frog of my foot. The stone was sharp on the inside and
round on the outside, which, as every one knows, is the most dangerous
kind that a horse can pick up, at the same time cutting his foot and
making him most liable to stumble and fall.

Whether the man was partly blind or only very careless I can't say, but
he drove me with that stone in my foot for a good half-mile before he
saw anything. By that time I was going so lame with the pain that at
last he saw it, and called out, "Well, here's a go! Why, they have sent
us out with a lame horse! What a shame!"

He then chucked the reins and flipped about with the whip, saying, "Now,
then, it's no use playing the old soldier with me; there's the journey
to go, and it's no use turning lame and lazy."

Just at this time a farmer came riding up on a brown cob. He lifted his
hat and pulled up.

"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but I think there is something the
matter with your horse; he goes very much as if he had a stone in
his shoe. If you will allow me I will look at his feet; these loose
scattered stones are confounded dangerous things for the horses."

"He's a hired horse," said my driver. "I don't know what's the matter
with him, but it is a great shame to send out a lame beast like this."

The farmer dismounted, and slipping his rein over his arm at once took
up my near foot.

"Bless me, there's a stone! Lame! I should think so!"

At first he tried to dislodge it with his hand, but as it was now
very tight