something! What's the matter,--what are you
getting down for?"

"'T is the mare's got the reins under her tail, yer honer!" said the
driver, as he descended some half-dozen feet to enable him to get near
enough to rectify the entanglement The process was made more difficult
by the complicated machinery of springs, straps, bars, and bolts which
supported the box, and in the midst of which the poor fellow sat as in a
cage. He was, however, proceeding in a very business-like way to tug
at the tail with one hand, and pull out the reins with the other, when,
suddenly, far behind, there came the tearing tramp of horses advancing
at speed, the cracking of the postilions' whips adding to the clamor.
The horses of the noddy, feeling no restraint from the reins, and
terrified by the uproar, kicked up their heels at once, and bolted away,
shooting the driver out of his den into a flowerpot. Away dashed the
affrighted beasts, the crazy old conveyance rattling and shaking behind
them with a deafening uproar. Immediately beyond the hall-door, the
avenue took a sweep round a copse, and by a gentle descent wound its
course towards the stables, a considerable expanse of ornamental water
bordering the-road on the other side. Down the slope they now rushed
madly; and, unable from their speed to accomplish the turn in safety,
they made a sudden "jib" at the water's edge, which upset the noddy,
pitching its two occupants over head and heels into the lake. By good
fortune it was not more than four or five feet deep in this part, so
that they came off with no other injury than a thorough drenching, and
the ridicule which met them in the laughter of some fifty spectators.
As for Ffrench, he had to sit down on the bank and laugh till the very
tears came; the efforts of Curtis to rid himself of tangled dead weed
and straggling aquatic plants having driven that choleric subject almost
out of his wits.

"This may be an excellent joke,--I've no doubt it is, since you seem
to think so; but, by Heaven, sir, I 'll try if I cannot make some one
responsible for it! Yes, gentlemen," added he, shaking his fist at the
crowded windows, "it's not all over yet; we'll see who laughs last!"

"Faith, we're well off, to escape with a little fright, and some
frog-spawn," said Bob; "it might have been worse!"

"It shall be worse, sir, far worse, depend upon it!" said the other.

By this time my father had come up to the spot, and endeavored, as well
as the abs