So you were brought up here, borne on the very sofa on which you were placed when they picked you up after your fall, four negroes acting as your palanquin bearers." "Jake was one, I bet!" I here put in, interrupting her.

"I am sure he wouldn't have let anyone else carry me if he could help it." "Oh, yes, Jake assisted," she said; "and I gave him a fine scolding, too, afterwards, for allowing you to ride down that hill at such a pace.
It was a mercy you were not killed outright!" "It wasn't his fault, mother," I interposed at this point.

Really, I was not going to let poor Jake be blamed for my obstinacy! "I made Prince gallop into the town as hard as I could, in spite of all he could say, for I was anxious to get down to the wharf before the passengers had landed from the steamer.

I wished to be the first to meet dad." "And you've found out now, Tom, the truth of the old proverb, `more haste, worse speed,' eh, my dear ?" "Yes, mother," I said with a laugh, "I never got there at all.

But, dad came all right, for I saw him, you know.