but, before he could ſpeak it out, the monſter took his head from under his arm, and hurled it at John: it ſtruck him right on the forehead, and the blow was ſo ſevere that he tumbled headlong from the box over the fore-wheel, and at the ſame inſtant the poſtilion was ſtretched in the duſt by a ſevere ſtroke with a club; while the phantom uttered theſe words from the hollow of his breaſt, in a ſolemn tone: ‘Take that from Number-Nip, the warder of the march.’ Upon this the apparition mounting the ſaddle, began to laſh on the horſes up hill and down, over ſtock and ſtone—ſo that between the rattling of the wheels and the ſnorting of the horſes the ladies’ ſcreams were entirely drowned.
In a moment the company was enlarged by the addition of another perſon; a man on horſeback paſſed very coolly beſide the driver, without ſeeming to take the ſmalleſt notice of his wanting an head; and then he rode on before the coach, as if he had
