r nine hours afterwards!
The moment the grooms let go the horses' heads he stood up on his seat,
shook the reins, flourished his long whip, and with one wild yell from
him we dashed down a steep cutting into the Ashburton. The water flew in
spray far over our heads, and the plunge wetted me as effectually as if
I had fallen into the river. I expected the front part of the coach to
part from the back, on account of the enormous strain caused by dragging
it over the boulders. We lurched like a boat in a heavy sea; the
"insides" screamed; "Jim" (that was the driver's name) swore and yelled;
the horses reared and plunged. All this time I was holding on like grim
death to a light iron railing above my head, and one glance to my left
showed me F---- thrown off the very small portion of cushion which fell
to his share, and clinging desperately to a rude sort of lamp-frame.
I speculated for an instant whether this would break; and, if so, what
would become of him. But it took all my ideas to keep myself from being
jerked off among the horses' heels. We dashed through the river; Jim
gathered up the reins, and with a different set of oaths swore he would
punish the horses for jibbing in the water. And he did punish them;
he put the break hard down for some way, flogged them with all his
strength, dancing about the coach-box and yelling like a madman. Every
now and then, in the course of his bounds from place to place, he would
come plump down on my lap; but I was too much frightened to remonstrate;
indeed, we were going at such a pace against the wind, I had very little
breath to spare.

We got over the first stage of twenty miles at this rate very quickly,
as you may imagine; but, unfortunately, there was an accommodation-house
close to the stables, and Jim had a good deal more refreshment. Strange
to say, this did not make him any wilder in manner--that he could not
be; but after we started again he became extremely friendly with me,
addressing me invariably as "my dear," and offering to "treat me"
at every inn from that to Timaru. I declined, as briefly as I could,
whereupon he became extremely angry, at my doubting his pecuniary
resources apparently, for, holding the reins carelessly with one hand,
though we were still tearing recklessly along, he searched his pockets
with the other hand, and produced from them a quantity of greasy, dirty
one-pound notes, all of which he laid on my lap, saying, "There, and
there, and there, i