Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/162

144 quickly abandoned, and we urged our horses forward as fast as the steepness of the route Avould permit. The rain poured down upon us in pelting streams, as with no little difficulty we advanced; for the road had become soft and slippery, and it required all our care to keep the poor horses from stumbling almost at every step.

At last, after some trouble, we arrived before the gate leading to the Passangrahan, and the man in whose keeping it was, a broad-chested Dutchman, who had been duly warned of our coming, came forward to help us, followed by his wife, a Javanese woman, of short stature, who assisted my wife from her horse. The pitying expression of their faces showed that they commiserated us in our wretched plight, for we were wet to the skin, the water soaking our shoes, and dripping from our finger ends. As our portmanteau had not yet arrived, we gladly accepted the kind offer of dry garments, and before long my wife was