Great excitement prevailed over drawing the cork.It was fast;it broke the point of someone's knife."Shove it in,"said I,breathless with impatience;no--no--it yielded,and shortly afterwards,giving up all opposition,came quickly out.A tin pannikin was produced.With a gurgling sound out flowed the precious liquid."Halloa!"said one;"it's not brandy,it's port wine.""Port wine!"cried another;"it smells more like rum."I voted for its being claret;another moment,however,settled the question,and established the contents of the cask as being excellent vinegar.The two unfortunate men had brought the vinegar keg instead of the brandy.
The rest may be imagined.That night,however,two of us were attacked with diarrhoea,and the vinegar proved of great service,for vinegar and water is an admirable remedy for this complaint.
The snow continued till afternoon the next day.It then sulkily ceased,and commenced thawing.At night it froze very hard indeed,and the next day a nor'-wester sprang up which made the snow disappear with the most astonishing rapidity.Not having then learnt that no amount of melting snow will produce any important effect upon the river,and,fearing that it might rise,we determined to push on:but this was as yet impossible.Next morning,however,we made an early start,and got triumphantly to our journey's end at about half-past ten o'clock.My own country,which lay considerably lower,was entirely free of snow,while we learnt afterwards that it had never been deeper than four inches.