ible--though scarcely probable--that our
party would start the following night. Then, for the first time, I made
acquaintance with my squire for the nonce--"Alick" he was called; I
cannot remember his surname--he had a rugged, honest face, and a manner
to match; but I was rather disconcerted at hearing that he knew no more
of riding or stable work than he had picked up in a fortnight's
irregular practice in an establishment where horses as well as men were
taught to "rough it" in good earnest.

I liked my new purchase much more than my new acquaintance. The former
was a raw-boned, leggy roan, with a coarse head, a dull eye, and a
weakish neck, far too low in condition, as I saw and said at once; not
fitted for long travel through a country where a horse must needs lose
flesh daily, from pure lack of provender. However, there was no time to
make a change, so I was fain to hope that easy journeys at first, and a
light weight on his back, might gradually bring the ungainly beast into
better form. It appeared that he was just recovering from the distemper
and "sore tongue," which had followed each other in rapid succession.
These two diseases are the terror and bane of Virginian and Maryland
stables. An animal who has once surmounted them is supposed to be
seasoned, and acquires considerable additional value, like a "salted"
horse in Southern Africa.

So I returned to the Manor for that night, and thither, early the next
morning, came Symonds in person. He informed me that the start from his
house would not take place till after nightfall on the following
evening, so that I had thirty vacant hours before me, I knew that the
English mail had reached Baltimore, and it then seemed so uncertain when
letters would reach me again, that I could not resist the temptation of
securing my correspondence. My host was himself returning to the city,
so I accepted the offer of a seat in his wagon, and we had a pleasant
drive back through the clear frosty weather.

The next day--having made the Post-office "part," and said those few
more last words that are forgotten at every leave-taking--I retraced my
steps, by the afternoon train, to Ellicott's Mills, where I found a
carriage from Drohoregan Manor awaiting me. At this point, the Patapsco
hurries through a channel narrowed by embankments and encroachments of
the granite cliffs, looking upon the yellow water streaked with huge
foam-clots, chafing against its banks lip high. I could not