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of greys, but of late he has become a derided shirk. On this occasion
he did not turn out, neither was he even like "Old Joe"
to be seen at the "garden gatte". The last thing known of him
was, that he had been seen during the morning in the regions
of the Artillery keep & having made a good throw for the "[rifler?]"
was toasting to his further success by sundry draughts of "black Jack"
However again to the drive; from the dockyard we turned into
the Fort Henry road & recrossed the ice to the town, going up
Princess St at a cheery pace, turning to the left through Lot 24[21?]
into Union Street, and on without any mishap, through the
village of Portsmouth to Little Cataraqui - But here repugnant
as it is to his feelings, by virtue of his office in duty bound, the
vice must lay before the club, the shameful way in which
the Sheriff here began to tail off. Our way lay along the ice
up Cataraqui creek & here this worthy had dropped behind
till he was some 200 yards behind the leading sleighs -
whether [strikethrough] [?] [/strikethrough] he thought that a vanguard of which he should
take the lead was necessary to pick up any stragglers, or whether
he was afraid of trusting his worshipped person on the
ice in [underline] company [/underline] with so many sleighs, your humble
servant is totally unable to state. Some whispered that
he had provided himself with some bitts, recommended to
his notice a short time ago by our A.D.C., and his horses
not liking the taste they got of them, on this their
first days trial, would not go so free as they formerly did
in their snaffles - . After reaching the Bath road, he contrived
to regain his place & we went on homewards as merrily
as possible, till we reached Artillery keep, where
young and old, and drivers all both great & small did
justice to an excellent lunch - .