to meet every exigency of colonial or civilized life upon all occasions in which knives could be serviceable to mankind: I need not say that, whereas he had always carried this knife about him when it was not wanted, he had it not in his pocket at a crisis which would have put its merits to the proof. It was a mercy that he had a razor to fall back on (metaphorically I mean, of course), which we lost no time in taking from our portmanteau, and whilst he cut the traces I stooped down to the horse's head, encouraging him with fair words to lie still, until we could set him at liberty. But there was no need for any representations on my part of the prudence of his keeping quiet,—the affair had evidently no novelty for him, and an injured conviction grew upon us, as we worked at his release, that he was not only equal to the situation but thoroughly accustomed to it also.
We had no sooner helped him up than he showed a perfect indifference to what had happened by instantly commencing to eat "blackboy" rushes; and the fact being established that he was unhurt and could stand as well as ever, we were next met by the question, how to reunite the leather traces which we had done our best to cut? I proposed the tearing of our pocket-handkerchiefs into strips, but my husband recollected a pair of half-finished socks which I had been knitting, and rightly suggested that they would answer better; we accordingly twisted the cotton into a resemblance of twine, and, the traces being joined by this contrivance, we once more put our horse into the shafts and proceeded towards home; but our confidence in him, and in the strength of our own
