ous navigators taking in sail when it blew fresh, and
coming to anchor at night; and stopping to send the boat ashore for
milk for tea, without which it was impossible for the worthy old lady
passengers to subsist. And there were the much-talked-of perils of the
Tappaan Zee, and the highlands. In short, a prudent Dutch burgher
would talk of such a voyage for months, and even years, beforehand;
and never undertook it without putting his affairs in order, making
his will, and having prayers said for him in the Low Dutch churches.

In the course of such a voyage, therefore, Dolph was satisfied he
would have time enough to reflect, and to make up his mind as to what
he should do when he arrived at Albany. The captain, with his blind
eye and lame leg, would, it is true, bring his strange dream to mind,
and perplex him sadly for a few moments; but, of late, his life had
been made up so much of dreams and realities, his nights and days had
been so jumbled together, that he seemed to be moving continually in a
delusion. There is always, however, a kind of vagabond consolation in
a man's having nothing in this world to lose; with this Dolph
comforted his heart, and determined to make the most of the present
enjoyment.

In the second day of the voyage they came to the highlands. It was the
latter part of a calm, sultry day, that they floated gently with the
tide between these stern mountains. There was that perfect quiet which
prevails over nature in the languor of summer heat; the turning of a
plank, or the accidental falling of an oar on deck, was echoed from
the mountain side and reverberated along the shores; and if by chance
the captain gave a shout of command, there were airy tongues that
mocked it from every cliff.

Dolph gazed about him in mute delight and wonder, at these scenes of
nature's magnificence. To the left the Dunderberg reared its woody
precipices, height over height, forest over forest, away into the deep
summer sky. To the right strutted forth the bold promontory of
Anthony's Nose, with a solitary eagle wheeling about it; while beyond,
mountain succeeded to mountain, until they seemed to lock their arms
together, and confine this mighty river in their embraces. There was a
feeling of quiet luxury in gazing at the broad, green bosoms here and
there scooped out among the precipices; or at woodlands high in air,
nodding over the edge of some beetling bluff, and their foliage all
transparent in the yellow sun