then crawls backward, like a span-worm, an inch at a
hitch. Well, she works her passage this way, wrong eend foremost, by
backin' of her paddles for the matter of half an hour or so, till she
gets to where it was roughish, and somethin' like standin' ground, when
who should come by but a tall handsome man, with a sort of a half coat,
half cloak-like coverin' on, fastened round the waist with a belt, and
havin' a hood up, to ambush the head.

"The moment she clapt eyes on him, she called to him for help. 'Oh,'
sais she, 'for heaven's sake, good man, help me up! Jist take hold of my
leg and draw me back, will you, that's a good soul?' And then she
held up fust one leg for him, and then the other, most beseechin', but
nothin' would move him. He jist stopt, looked back for a moment and then
progressed agin.

"Well, it ryled her considerable. Her eyes actilly snapped with fire,
like a hemlock log at Christmas: (for nothin' makes a woman so mad as a
parsonal slight, and them little ankles of hern were enough to move the
heart of a stone, and make it jump out o' the ground, that's a fact,
they were such fine-spun glass ones), it made her so mad, it gave her
fresh strength; and makin' two or three onnateral efforts, she got clear
back to the path, and sprung right up on eend, as wicked as a she-bear
with a sore head. But when she got upright agin, she then see'd what a
beautiful frizzle of a fix she was in. She couldn't hope to climb far;
and, indeed, she didn't ambition to; she'd had enough of that, for one
spell. But climbin' up was nothin', compared to goin' down hill without
her staff; so what to do, she didn't know.

"At last, a thought struck her. She intarmined to make that man help
her, in spite of him. So she sprung forward for a space, like a painter,
for life or death, and caught right hold of his cloak. 'Help--help me!'
said she, 'or I shall go for it, that's sartain. Here's my puss, my
rings, my watch, and all I have got; but oh, help me! for the love of
God, help me, or my flint is fixed for good and all.'

"With that, the man turned round, and took one glance at her, as if he
kinder relented, and then, all at once, wheeled back again, as amazed as
if he was jist born, gave an awful yell, and started off as fast as he
could clip, though that warn't very tall runnin' nother, considerin' the
ground. But she warn't to be shook off that way. She held fast to his
cloak, like a burr to a sheep's tail, and raced arter