aces on the front of the coach, the light shone down on the road
before us, so that the way where the horses were going was as bright as
day.

[Illustration: GOING THROUGH THE VILLAGE.]

"After a time the moon rose, and that made it pretty bright every where.
Still I could not see very far, and as the people around me were
talking, I listened to what they were saying. The conductor was telling
stories about diligences that had been robbed. He said that once, when
he was travelling somewhere, the diligence was attacked by robbers, and
he was shot by one of them. He was shot in the neck; and he had to keep
in his bed six months before he got well. I listened as well as I could,
but the diligence made such a noise that I could not understand all
he said, and I did not hear where it was that this happened. I suppose
it was probably in Italy, for I have heard that there were a great many
robbers there.

"After a while I began to feel sleepy. I don't remember going to sleep,
for the first thing I knew after I began to feel sleepy was that I was
waking up. We were stopping to change horses. We stopped to change
horses very often--oftener than once an hour. When we changed horses we
always changed the postilion too. A new postilion always came with every
new team. It was only the conductor that we did not change. He went with
us all the way.

"We changed horses usually in a village; and it was very curious to see
what queer-looking hostlers and stable boys came out with the new teams.
Generally the hostlers were all ready, waiting for the diligence to
come; but sometimes they would be all asleep, and the conductor and the
postilion would make a great shouting and uproar in waking them up.

"When the new team was harnessed in, the new postilion would climb up to
his seat, with the reins in his hands, and, without waiting a moment, he
would start the horses on at full speed, leaving the poor conductor to
get on the best way he could. By the time the horses began to go on the
gallop, the conductor would come climbing up the side of the coach into
his place.

"It was curious to see how different the different teams were in regard
to the number of horses. Sometimes we had four horses, sometimes five,
and once we had seven. For a long time I could not tell what the reason
was for such a difference. But at last I found out. It was because some
of the stages were pretty nearly level, and others were almost all up
hill. Of course