It seemed rather a piece of good luck that the horses bolted; the lines
held; they pulled me free of the drift on the bank and plunged out on
the road. For a mile or two we had a pretty wild run; and this time
there was no doubt about it, either, the horses were thoroughly
frightened. They ran till they were exhausted, and there was no holding
them; but since I was on a clear road, I did not worry very much.
Nevertheless, I was rather badly shaken up myself; and if I had followed
the good advice that suggested itself, I should have put in for some
time at the very next farm which I passed. The way I see things now,
it was anything rather than safe to go on. With horses in the nervous
condition in which mine were I could not hope any longer to keep them
under control should a further accident happen. But I had never yet
given in when I had made up my mind to make the trip, and it was hard to
do so for the first time.

As soon as I had the horses sufficiently in hand again, I lighted my
lantern, got out on the road, and carefully looked my cutter over. I
found that the hardwood lining of both runners was broken at the curve,
but the steel shoes were, though slightly bent, still sound. Fortunately
the top had been down, otherwise further damage would have been sure to
result. I saw no reason to discontinue the drive.

Now after a while--when the nervousness incident upon the shock which
I had received subsided--my interest in the shifting skies revived once
more, and again I began to watch the clouds. The wind was squally, and
the low, black vapour-masses overhead had coalesced into a vast array of
very similar but yet distinct groups. There was still a certain amount
of light from the moon, but only just enough to show the texture and the
grouping of the clouds. Hardly ever had I seen, or at least consciously
taken note of a sky that with its blackness and its massed multitudes of
clouds looked so threatening, so sinister, so much like a battle-array.
But way up in the northeast there were two large areas quite suffused
with light from the north. They must have been thin cloud-layers in
whose upper reaches the northern lights were playing. And these patches
of light were like a promise, like a word of peace arresting the battle.
Had it not been for these islands of light, I should have felt depressed
when I looked back to the road.

We were swinging along as before. I had rested the horses by a walk,
and to a casual