said, "Poor
thing: well, you do seem hungry indeed, and I dare say are just out from
the _ould_ country, and so little used to such hard fare. Here are some
cakes that my woman (i.e. wife) put in my pocket when I left home; I
care nothing for them, but they are better than that bad bread; take
'em, and welcome." With these words he tossed some very respectable
home-made seed-cakes into my lap, and truly never was anything more
welcome than this seasonable refreshment.

A sullen and gloomy spirit seemed to prevail among our boatmen, which by
no means diminished as the evening drew on, and "the rapids were near."
The sun had set, and the moon and stars rose brilliantly over the still
waters, which gave back the reflections of their glorious multitude of
heavenly bodies. A sight so passing fair might have stilled the most
turbulent spirits into peace; at least so I thought, as, wrapped in my
cloak, I leant back against the supporting arm of my husband, and
looking from the waters to the sky, and from the sky to the waters, with
delight and admiration. My pleasant reverie was, however, soon ended,
when I suddenly felt the boat touch the rocky bank, and heard the
boatmen protesting they would go no further that night. We were nearly
three miles below Peterborough, and how I was to walk this distance,
weakened as I was by recent illness and fatigue of our long travelling,
I knew not. To spend the night in an open boat, exposed to the heavy
dews arising from the river, would be almost death. While we were
deliberating on what to do, the rest of the passengers had made up their
minds, and taken the way through the woods by a road they were well
acquainted with. They were soon out of sight, all but one gentleman, who
was bargaining with one of the rowers to take him and his dog across the
river at the head of the rapids in a skiff.

Imagine our situation, at ten o'clock at night, without knowing a single
step of our road, put on shore to find the way to the distant town as we
best could, or pass the night in the dark forest.

Almost in despair, we entreated the gentleman to be our guide as far as
he went. But so many obstacles beset our path in the form of newly-
chopped trees and blocks of stone, scattered along the shore, that it
was with the utmost difficulty we could keep him in sight. At last we
came up with him at the place appointed to meet the skiff, and, with a
pertinacity that at another time and in other circumstan