The fender and clambered down.
When his feet reached the pole, he rested them a moment upon it, and
clung with his hands to the fender and other parts of the front of the
coach. He found his position here more unstable than he had expected;
for the coach being upon springs, the forward part rose and fell with
many jerks and surges, as the horses traveled swiftly along, while the
pole was held in its position straight and firm. Thus the different
parts of his body were connected with different systems of motion,
which made his position very uncomfortable.
He found, however, after a moment's pause, that he could stand, and
probably walk upon the pole; so he advanced cautiously, putting his
hands on the backs of the horses, and walking along on the pole
between them. The horses were somewhat disturbed by the strange
sensations which they experienced, and began to canter again; but
Marco, who felt more and more confidence every moment, pushed boldly
on, gathered up the reins, and got all the ends together. Then taking
the ends of the reins in one hand, he crept back, supporting himself
by taking hold of the harness of one of the horses with the other
hand. By this means he regained the coach, and then, though with some
difficulty, he clambered up to his seat again.
He then endeavored to stop the horses by gathering the reins together,
and pulling upon them with all his strength; but it was in vain. The
horses had by this time reached a part of the road where it was more
level, and they began to press forward at a more rapid pace. Marco
thought of calling to Forester to get out of the window and climb
along the side of the coach to the box, in order to help him; but just
at that moment he saw that they were coming up opposite to the farm
house, which had been in sight, at a distance, when they were crossing
the bridge. So he thought that though he could not stop the horses, he
might perhaps have strength enough to turn them off from the road into
the farmer's yard; and that then they could be more easily stopped. In
this he succeeded. By pulling the off rein of the leaders with all his
strength, he was able to turn them out of the road. The pole horses
followed as a matter of course, - the coach came up with a graceful
sweep to the farmer's door, and then the horses were easily stopped.
The farmer came at once to the door, to see what strange company had
come to visit him in the stage, - his wife following; while several
children crowded to the windows.
"What's here?" said a voice from the window of the coach, - "a
post-office?" They thought the stage had been driven up to the door of
some post-office.
Marco did not answer; in fact he was bewildered and confounded at the
strangeness of his situation. He looked back over the top of the coach
down the road to see what had become of the driver. To his great joy,
he saw him running up behind the coach, - his hat crushed out of shape,
and his clothes dusty. The passengers looked out at the windows of the
stage, exclaiming,
"Why, driver! what's the matter?"
The driver made no reply. He began to brush his clothes, - and, taking
off his hat, he attempted to round it out into shape again.
"What _is_ the matter, driver?" said the passengers.
"Nothing," replied he, "only that drunkard of a sailor tumbled off the
stage."
"Where?" "When?" exclaimed half a dozen voices. "Is he killed?"
"Killed? no," replied the driver; "I don't believe he is even
sobered."
Forester and another gentleman then urgently asked where he was, and
the driver told them that he was "back there a piece," as he expressed
it.
"What! lying in the road?" said Forester; "open the door, and let us
go and see to him."
"No," said the driver; "he has got off to the side of the road, safe.
I don't believe he's hurt any. Let him take care of himself, and we'll
drive on."
But Forester remonstrated strongly against leaving the poor sailor in
such a condition, and in such a place; and finally it was agreed that
the farmer should go down the road and see to him, so as to allow the
stage-coach with the passengers to go on.
Forester was not willing, however, to have Marco ride outside any
longer; and so they contrived to make room for him within. As Marco
descended from his high seat, the driver said to him, as he passed
him, in a low voice,
"How did you get the reins? I thought they all came down with me,
under the horses' heels."
"Yes," said Marco, "they did, and I climbed down upon the pole and got
them."
"Well," said the driver, "you're a smart boy. But don't tell them
inside that I tumbled off. Tell them I gave you the reins, and jumped
down to see the sailor."
After receiving this charge, Marco would have been under a strong
temptation to tell a falsehood, if the company in the coach had asked
him any questions about it. But they did not. They were so much
occupied in expressing their astonishment that the sailor did not
break his neck, that they asked very few questions, and after riding a
short time, they relapsed into silence again. The fact that both
the driver and the sailor escaped being seriously hurt, was not so
wonderful as it might seem. Horses have generally an instinctive
caution about not stepping upon any thing under their feet.
