Thenceforward, my guide and I rode on alone: the moon shone out, broad
and bright, in a cloudless sky, as we climbed the wooded spurs that lie
as outworks before the main range of the Alleghanies; the silvery
transparent shimmer of the frost-work on the feathery for-sprays, was
one of the most remarkable effects of reflected light that I can
remember. The snow was more than fetlock-deep where it lay level, and
the filly tired fearfully towards morning. She could not walk near up to
Falcon's long, even stride. I had to halt perpetually, to wait for my
companion; but in the tenth weary hour we sighted the crazy bridge that
spans the North Branch, and by four, A. M., on Good Friday, our steeds
Might graze at ease
Beyond the brood Borysthenes.
Rock, and wood, and water, were all looking their best, under a
brilliant sun, when I rose, but the object on which I gazed with most
satisfaction, was the accursed river circumvented at last. The solitary
green things I could find actually on the bank, were some sprigs of
cypress: these I gathered with due formula of lustration; but the _absit
omen_ was spoken in vain.
Then I wrote two or three letters, inclosing in each the cypress, token
of partial success; but these never reached their destinations: they
were prudently suppressed, three days later, by the person to whose
discretion I trusted to forward them.
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