CHAPTER III
Finally a great thing came to pass. The cab horse, proceeding at a sharp
trot, found himself suddenly at the top of an incline, where through the
rain the pavement shone like an expanse of ice. It looked to me as if
there was going to be a tumble. In an accident of such a kind a hansom
becomes really a cannon in which a man finds that he has paid shillings
for the privilege of serving as a projectile. I was making a rapid
calculation of the arc that I would describe in my flight, when the
horse met his crisis with a masterly device that I could not have
imagined. He tranquilly braced his four feet like a bundle of stakes,
and then, with a gentle gaiety of demeanor, he slid swiftly and
gracefully to the bottom of the hill as if he had been a toboggan. When
the incline ended he caught his gait again with great dexterity, and
went pattering off through another tunnel.
I at once looked upon myself as being singularly blessed by this sight.
This horse had evidently originated this system of skating as a
diversion, or, more probably, as a precaution against the slippery
pavement; and he was, of course the inventor and sole proprietor--two
terms that are not always in conjunction. It surely was not to be
supposed that there could be two skaters like him in the world. He
deserved to be known and publicly praised for this accomplishment. It
was worthy of many records and exhibitions.
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