and hot bread of every
denomination, awaited us.

My first movement on jumping off the Box was to lay hands on the Indian
guide, and to proffer to him a flask of cognac, which had proved of
singular comfort to the party: to my great surprise, he at once declined
tasting it; smiling and pointing his finger to his forehead, he gravely
repeated half a dozen words, which a by-stander of the nation readily
translated to mean,--"Whisky water make man not eat,--bad for sore
head."

I agreed with this as a general rule, but at the same time begged my
Creek to look on old brandy as an exception, when used medicinally; this
being duly interpreted, the Indian laughed heartily, but abided by his
rejection of the consolation. During our parley he took the red and blue
shawl from off his head, wrung it as dry as possible, refolded it, and
then adjusted his turban with infinite care, preparing forthwith to be
gone: he did not depart without a slight gratuity, and took with him our
best wishes. This was a fine open-countenanced fellow, middle-sized, and
firmly built; he was, in fact, one of the few really good-looking
aborigines I have met. As he was departing from the house, I asked if he
did not require a bundle of light-wood to show him his road home; he
laughed, and replied, "No, he was no waggon; no fear of him falling into
the swamp."

Away he dashed into the mud at a quick trot, with bent knees and folded
arms, anxious, I fancied, to appease his squaw; since it was contrary to
her desire that he had ventured on this service, and not, as the
coachman assured us, without receiving much abuse for his foolishness,
as his "gentle ladye" termed this courtesy.

Here we learned that the mail preceding us had been overturned into a
stream from off the bridge we had next to pass, and lay there yet;
luckily no passenger was in it at the time: our new driver added, that
he had no expectations of getting the coach through, but he was bound to
try. So wearied were we, that any or all of the party would have been
well contented to stay here; but no place could be given us to sleep in,
and until the next coach passed, no means could be procured to forward
us to Montgomery; we had no choice therefore but to push on with the
mail and meet our fortune.

From this hour, midnight, until daylight, we were generally on foot;
the driver in one or two instances refusing to advance until even the
poor girl got out, assuring us that he would not ha