Page:1898 NB Magazine.djvu/347

"Oh yes, the water looks well enough to you, I dare say; but for my part, I can't bear the look of it!"

I had been driving along the New Brunswick shore of Northumberland Strait one glorious summer morning; and the noon tide hour having arrived, was now in quest of a place of refreshment for man and beast. I had not seen the usual sign denoting such an establishment, since early morning; and being a total stranger in the province, had not yet learned that my friendless position gave me a claim upon the hospitality of the people, gladly and bountifully recognized by all who had anything in the way of hospitality to offer.

Neither did I notice that I had nearly run over an elderly gentleman in a straw hat with a very wide brim and a very high pointed crown, till his exclamation of alarm drew my attention to him. I had reached a sharp turn just as the elderly gentleman was about to cross, carrying a pail of water from a roadside spring. One glance, however, a moment after, must have assured the old man of his personal safety, and have shown him that, in my anxiety to clear him, I had reined the horse in and was now backing across the road towards the ditch, which I should soon have reached had he not seized the horse's bridle in time to save us from toppling over.

"Ah! man, who has been the fool to trust you with a horse?" was the somewhat contemptuous though justifiable query when we were all safe again in the middle of the road.

When the excitement consequent upon this little incident had subsided, I began to enquire the where-