ime I was positively beside myself with terror. No longer
able to distinguish the flying trees, waterfalls, and precipices, I
closed my eyes and gasped for breath. Soon the fearful bouncing of the
cariole aroused me to something like consciousness. We had struck a
rock, and were now spinning along the edge of a mighty abyss on one
wheel, the other performing a sort of balance in the air. I looked
ahead, but there was neither shape nor meaning in the country. It was
all a wild chaos of destructive elements--trees, precipices, red
stockings, and whirling petticoats--toward which we were madly flying.

But there is an end to all troubles upon earth. With thanks to a kind
Providence, I at length caught sight of a long stretch of level road.
Although there were several short turns to be made before reaching it,
there was still hope that it might be gained without any more serious
disaster than the breaking of a leg or an arm. Upon such a casualty as
that I should have compromised at once. If this extraordinary creature
behind would only stop whistling and cracking the whip, and driving
the little pony crazy by her inspiring cries, I might yet succeed in
steering safely into the level road; but the nearer we approached the
bottom of the hill the wilder she became--now actually dancing on the
little board with delight, now leaning over to get a cut at the pony's
tail with the whip, while she whistled more fiercely than ever, and
cried out, from time to time, "_Flue! Gaae! Reise!_" Already the poor
animal was reeking with sweat, and it was a miracle he did not drop
dead on the road.

[Illustration: THE POST-GIRL.]

However, by great good fortune, aided by my skill in driving, we made
the turns, and in a few minutes more were safely jogging along the
level road. Almost breathless, and quite bewildered, I instinctively
turned round to see what manner of wild being this girl behind was. If
you believe me, she was leaning over my shoulder, shaking her sides
laughing at me, her sparkling blue eyes now all ablaze with
excitement, her cheeks glowing like peonies, her lips wide apart,
displaying the most exquisite set of teeth I ever beheld, while her
long golden tresses, bursting from the red handkerchief which served
as a sort of crowning glory to her head, floated in wavy ringlets over
her shoulders. Hermosa! it was enough to thaw an anchorite! She was
certainly very pretty--there was no doubt of that; full of life,
overflowing