Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/375

CH. XXV.] also desirous of receiving the latest accounts of the proceedings on the slave question.

Full of these reflections, I had inadvertently omitted to take the right ford of the river, which I had now to repass, and, when about twenty yards from the shore, found my horse plunge all at once into deep water, considerably out of his depth: as he was swimming against the stream, which was exceedingly powerful, and as he grew weak with his exertions, my situation became somewhat perilous: in the course of five minutes, however, he recovered his footing, which he also lost again, successively, two or three times. At last, owing to weakness and the inequality of the river's bed, which was strewed thickly with large stones and as rough as a quarry, the poor animal fell and plunged us both under water. Being disengaged from the saddle, I was determined, at all risks, not to lose the bridle, for fear my horse might swim over me, or, what I more dreaded, swim from me; for I should have been, in