Page:George Dobson's expedition to hell.pdf/8

 engagement is this;--You, by this instrument, engage your soul, that you will return here by to-morrow at noon.'

'Catch me there, billy,' says George, I'll engage no such thing, depend on it;—that I will not.'

'Then remain where you are,' said the keeper, 'for there is no other alternative. We like beat for people to come here in their own way, in the way of their business;' and with that he flung George backward, heels-over-head down hill, and closed the gate.

George, finding all remonstrance vain, and being dessirous once more to see the open day, and breathe the fresh air, and likewise to see Chirsty Halliday, his wifə, and set his house and stable in some order, came up again, and in utter desperation, signed the bond, and was suffered to depart. He then bounded away on the track of his horses, with more than ordinary swiftness, in hopes to overtake them; and always now and then uttered a loud wo! in hopes they might bear and obey, though he could not come in sight of them. But George's grief was but beginning, for at a well-known and dangerous spot, where there was a tan-yard on the one hand, and a quarry on the other, he came to his gallant steeds over-turned, the coach smashed to pieces, Dawtie with two of her legs broken, and Duncan dead. This was more than the worthy coachman could bear, and many degrees worse than being in hell. There his pride and manly spirit bore him up against the worst of treatment; but here his heart entirely failed him, and he laid himself down, with his face on his two hands, and wept bitterly, bewailing, in the most deplorable terms his two gallant horses, Dawtie and Duncan.

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