against my waist; then I sat down as
quietly as I could, not to alarm the horse, bent forward so as to keep
my left arm under me lest the bridle should slip off, and fainted away
in great peace and comfort. The cold was becoming so intense that it
soon revived me, and F----, suspecting something was wrong, came to
relieve me of the care of the horse, and contrived to get the girths
repaired with the ever-ready flax, and the bag secured in a very short
time. But when it came to mounting again, that was not so easy: every
time I tried to spring, something jarred horribly in the socket where
the arm fits into the shoulder, and the pain was so great that I had to
lie down on the ground. It was now nearly seven o'clock, quite dark, and
freezing hard; we were most anxious to get on, and yet what was to be
done? I could not mount, apparently, and there was no stone or bank to
stand on and get up by for an immense way. At last F---- put me up
by sheer strength. I found myself so deadly sick and faint when I was
fairly in the saddle that it was some time before I could allow Helen
to move; and never shall I forget the torture of her first step, for
my shoulder was now stiffening in a most unpleasant way. F---- said it
would be easier to canter; so we set off at full speed, and the cold air
against my face kept me from fainting as we went along, though I fully
expected to fall off every moment; if Helen had shied, or stumbled, or
even capered a little, I should have been on the ground again. In my
torture and despair, I proposed to be left behind, and for F---- to ride
on and get help; but he would not hear of this, declaring that I should
die of cold before he could get back with a cart, and that it was very
doubtful if he should find me again on the vast plain, with nothing to
guide him, and in the midnight darkness. Whenever we came to a little
creek which we were obliged to jump, Helen's safe arrival on the
opposite bank was announced by a loud yell from me, caused by agony
hardly to be described. The cold appeared to get _into_ the broken
joint, and make it so much worse.

At last we reached Rockwood, and never was its friendly shelter more
welcome. Everything that could be thought of was done to alleviate my
sufferings; but I resembled Punch with his head on one side, for I had
a well-defined and gigantic hump on my back, and my shoulder was swollen
up to my ear. The habit-body was unpicked, as it was impossible to get
it