248 THE TROTTIXG-nORSE OF AMERICA. 



way its glitter played among the leaves of the trees, and its 

 broad, warm flood spread itself fondly upon the field and 

 mixed wantonly with the very earth of the road, it appeared 

 as if it never desired to withdraw. And every thing in 

 Washington Hollow seemed to respond in peaceful happi- 

 ness to these visits of the sun ; and day in and day out, 

 wlienever the sun shone, which it did in Washington Hol- 

 low nearly the whole of its allotted term, the village looked 

 precisely as cheerful as it did the day before. 



On one of the finest of these kind of mornings in Wash- 

 ington Hollow, in the month of June, of the year of grace 

 aforesaid, Jonathan A. Vielee stood listlessly at his stable- 

 door, looking out into the road, thinking, doubtless, as was 

 common with the inhabitants of tliat village, that he had 

 never seen the sun shine ^so bright before, when his atten- 

 tion was attracted by the faint clank of a bell ; and, turning 

 that wa}^, he saw a stout drover coming down the road with 

 fifty or sixty head of cattle, one of which bore the bell tliat 

 had struck his ear. The cattle filed before the practised 

 and admiring eyes of Mr. Vielee; and after them came the 

 drover's wagon, drawn by two stout mares, driven by a 

 sleepy-looking negro ; and on the other side of the road, but 

 near enough to exchange a nod with Mr. Jonathan A. 

 Vielee, rode the drover on a graceful gray stallion, keeping 

 liis charge in line. Mr. Jonathan A. Vielee looked approv- 

 ingly upon many of the cattle : he thought: the brown mares 

 that drew the wagon a very serviceable pair of " horses-of- 

 all-work ; " and he admired the tall stallion on which the 

 drover rode, as a fine piece of flesh, that showed a good 

 many signs of " blood; " but, in all this scrutiny, Mr. Vielee 

 saw nothing to excite him from the delightful state of tran- 

 quillity which the soft and quiet beauty of the morning had 

 put him in. Just, however, as he w^as about turning his 

 head again to the advanced part of the line, something riv- 

 eted his attention. 



This somethinjx, which riveted the attention of Mx 



