102 WINTER SKETCHES. 



sitive ear of Ichabod. In the dark shadow of 

 the grove, on the margin of the brook, he be- 

 held something huge, misshapen, black, and 

 towering." 



This brook no longer runs across the road, 

 but as the grade has been improved, it flows 

 through a culvert far beneath the present 

 level, and would scarcely be noticed by the 

 passing traveller. Here it was that old Gun- 

 powder took the bit in his teeth and pursued 

 his mad race side by side with the headless 

 horseman. They reached the road which 

 turns off to Sleepy Hollow, but *' Gunpowder, 

 who seemed possessed with a demon, instead 

 of keeping up it, made an opposite turn and 

 plunged headlong down hill to the left." 



The tulip tree has long since disappeared, 

 the thick woods have been cut down, and 

 the marsh has been drained. This down- 

 hill road has also been somewhat diverted 

 from its original line, but people who follow it 

 generally imagine that Sleepy Hollow is at its 

 base, and that the bridge crossing Pocantico 

 Creek is where the final catastrophe occurred. 

 But that is neither Sleepy Hollow nor the 

 bridge. The house of Hans Van Ripper, with 

 whom Ichabod boarded, was in Sleepy Hollow, 



