itself with a bounce,--two front wheels go down into another abyss,
and senator, woman, and child, all tumble promiscuously on to the
front seat,--senator's hat is jammed over his eyes and nose quite
unceremoniously, and he considers himself fairly extinguished;--child
cries, and Cudjoe on the outside delivers animated addresses to the
horses, who are kicking, and floundering, and straining under repeated
cracks of the whip. Carriage springs up, with another bounce,--down go
the hind wheels,--senator, woman, and child, fly over on to the back
seat, his elbows encountering her bonnet, and both her feet being jammed
into his hat, which flies off in the concussion. After a few moments the
"slough" is passed, and the horses stop, panting;--the senator finds
his hat, the woman straightens her bonnet and hushes her child, and they
brace themselves for what is yet to come.

For a while only the continuous bump! bump! intermingled, just by way of
variety, with divers side plunges and compound shakes; and they begin to
flatter themselves that they are not so badly off, after all. At last,
with a square plunge, which puts all on to their feet and then down into
their seats with incredible quickness, the carriage stops,--and, after
much outside commotion, Cudjoe appears at the door.

"Please, sir, it's powerful bad spot, this' yer. I don't know how we's
to get clar out. I'm a thinkin' we'll have to be a gettin' rails."

The senator despairingly steps out, picking gingerly for some firm
foothold; down goes one foot an immeasurable depth,--he tries to pull it
up, loses his balance, and tumbles over into the mud, and is fished out,
in a very despairing condition, by Cudjoe.

But we forbear, out of sympathy to our readers' bones. Western