ow that I wished myself anywhere but where I was. The
old ladies talked of highwaymen, coaches stopped, and passengers
murdered, till they talked themselves into a state of nervous fear. One
or the other was constantly poking her head out of the window, and
declaring that she saw a man galloping after the coach with a
blunderbuss over his shoulder. However, as the guard gave no signal, I
was very sure that their imaginations had conjured up the robber.

"Pray, ladies, do sit quiet," at length exclaimed Aunt Deb, who being a
strong-minded woman was not influenced by similar fears. "It will be
time enough to cry out if a highwayman does come to demand our purses,
and we'll hope that the guard will shoot him dead before he has had time
to open the door."

"Oh! How dreadful!" shrieked out one of the ladies. "I would sooner
let him have everything he asked for than see a handsome highwayman
shot."

"Fiddle-de-dee about a handsome highwayman," said Aunt Deb, in a
scornful tone. "They're ugly ruffians, and miserable arrant cowards to
boot. If one does venture to stop the coach, I'll not give him any of
my property as long as I have hands to defend it."

Notwithstanding Aunt Deb's remarks, our fellow-travellers continued in
the same state of alarm the greater part of the night, and to comfort
themselves took further sips of gin; until, becoming perfectly fuddled,
they dropped off to sleep.

I almost wished that a highwayman would appear, to see how Aunt Deb
would behave; but morning at length dawned, and I fell asleep, nor did I
wake till the coach stopped for breakfast. We travelled on all day with
the same unpleasant companions, and I was glad to find that we were to
go no farther that night. I remember that I dropped off to sleep before
supper was over, and was very unwilling to get up the next morning when
Aunt Deb called me. The fear of offending her, notwithstanding, made me
jump out of bed and hurry on my clothes, and I was in time to take my
seat in the coach, which came up soon after breakfast. She still
refused to let me go outside, and I had to endure another day's misery,
shut up with her and a lady and a fat gentleman, who took snuff and
snored, and nearly tumbled over me in his sleep, and a young woman with
a baby, who at intervals kept up a chorus of squalls, which considerably
aggravated my respected aunt; and I really thought that, if she had
given way to her feelings, she would have tossed it