early all of which
were lying some distance from the edge of the ice, and before they could
get into the water I had managed to intercept about a dozen of them.
Thus far I thought myself very lucky; but, as the poet Burns says,

'The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft a-gley,
And leave us naught but grief and pain
For promised joy,'--

so it fell out with me. The seals, of course, all rushed towards the
water as fast as they could go, the moment they saw me coming. But I got
up with them in time, and struck one on the nose, killing it, and was in
the act of striking another, when a huge fellow that was big enough to
have been the father of the whole flock, too badly frightened to mind
where he was going, ran his head between my legs, and, whipping up my
heels in an instant, landed me on his back, in which absurd position I
was carried into the sea before I could recover myself. Of course I sunk
immediately, and dreadfully cold was the water; but, rising to the
surface in a moment, I was preparing to make a vigorous effort to swim
back to the ice, when another badly frightened and ill-mannered seal, as
I am sure you will all think, plunged into the sea without once looking
to see what he was doing, and hit me with the point of his nose fairly
in the stomach.

"I thought now for certain that my misfortunes were all over, and that
my end was surely come. However, I got my head above the surface once
more, and did my best to keep it there; but my hopes vanished when I
perceived that I was at least twenty feet from the edge of the ice. It
was as much as I could do to keep my head above water, without swimming
forward, so much embarrassed was I by my heavy clothing, the great
cold, and the terrible pains (worse than those of colic) caused by the
seal hitting me in the stomach. I am quite certain that this would have
been the last of John Hardy's adventures, had not one of my companions,
seeing me going overboard on the back of the seal, rushed to my rescue.
He threw me his line for dragging seals (the end of which I had barely
strength to catch and hold on to), and then he drew me out as one would
haul up a large fish.

[Illustration: John Hardy takes a Ride without meaning it.]

"I came from the sea in a most sorry condition, as you can well imagine.
My mouth was full of salt water. I was so prostrated with the cold that
I could scarcely stand, and my pains were so great that I should
certa