mong the
civilising influences of the shore.

For some time we went on pretty well, though now and then the overloaded
coach going down a hill rocked to and fro pretty violently. When we
stopped the next time, a gentleman who had gone in the inside, because
there was no place on the outside, said that he had never been
accustomed to travel inside, and that it made him very ill, and asked if
any gentleman would be willing to change places with him, and that, as
he had already paid his fare, it would not put anybody who would so
oblige him to further cost.

I at once said, that as my wife was inside, I should be very happy to be
the means of accommodating him, so he mounted on the top of the coach,
and I joined Margaret inside. Away we went once more rattling along
over the road. The gentleman, I found, whose seat I had got had no idea
that the coachman was the worse for liquor, but fancied that the rocking
of the coach, which I had observed so palpably from the outside, was
only the usual motion, and that he would be free from it outside.
Suddenly I felt that we were going on much faster than usual.

"What is the matter?" exclaimed Margaret, as clouds of dust arose on
each hand, and we saw people starting aside and looking anxiously after
us as we were whirled along. "Oh, the horses have run away!"

We heard the passengers hallooing and shouting to the coachman to stop
his horses, to pull up; but he either did not heed them or could not
obey them. On we dashed at a furious rate. We saw by the appearance of
some small, red-brick houses, scattered here and there, that we were
approaching a town. I placed myself by Margaret's side, and held her
tightly down.

On we whirled. Round went the huge vehicle with a swing. There was a
terrific crash. We felt the coach dragged some little way; groans and
shrieks and cries arose around us. The coach stopped. The traces had
been cut, and the horses galloped off. I looked with intense anxiety at
my wife's countenance. She was pale, but she assured me that she was
unhurt. I had held her firmly, so as to break the shock when the coach
went over.

People came to help us out, and my wife was conducted into a house close
at hand, to which the owner invited us. But dreadful indeed was the
scene which met my eyes as I glanced round over the wreck of the coach.
The gentleman who had just changed places with me was lying dead on the
pavement, with three or four other pass