That was F----'s new patent sledge, warranted to go faster down an incline than any other conveyance on the surface of the earth.

I was the wretched "passenger," as he called me, on more than one occasion, and I will briefly describe my experiences.

"Why did you go ?" is a very natural question to arise in my reader's mind; and sitting here at my writing-table, I feel as if I must have been a lunatic to venture.

But in those delicious wild days, no enterprise seemed too rash or dangerous to engage in, from mounting a horse which had never seen or felt the fluttering of a habit, to embarking on the conveyance I have described above, and starting down a mountain-side at the risk of a broken neck.
Well, to return to that terrible moment.

I see the whole scene now.