124 JUSTIN MORGAN 



his natural terror of storms — confused Morgan's sight 

 and hearing. 



Fortunately, however, he had never had rheumatism, 

 nor stiffness of any kind, and his reluctance to leave his 

 leaky stable was counteracted by his desire to do his 

 duty bravely. 



Trusting blindly in his master's judgment, he can- 

 tered off. 



The wind blew and whistled like evil spirits, the 

 swaying trees bent almost to the ground, but at last they 

 reached the neighbor's house and succeeded in saving his 

 terrified cattle, though with great difficulty. Afterwards 

 the neighbor besought them to pass the night, but Stone 

 refused, saying that, "by morning the bridges would all 

 be gone and they must be getting home-along before 

 that happened !'' 



Hurriedly partaking of a hot supper in the leaking 

 kitchen, near a sputtering fire, and after giving Morgan 

 a good, warm mash. Stone mounted and rode away into 

 the storm and night. 



Darkness fell about them like a blanket; there was 

 nothing for the rider to do but leave it to his horse's in- 

 stinct and sense of direction to take him home. 



Not once did Justin Morgan hesitate. 



Very soon, by the roar of water the horse knew they 

 were near Beaver Creek, a torrent, rising high in the 

 mountains, and gathering strength as it raced and tore 

 to the valley through narrow gorges, was now a raging 

 cataract. In crossing this stream earlier, Morgan had 

 perceived that the bridge could not last much longer; 

 he had felt the timbers tremble under his tread. 



Now, several hours later, he could hear the current, 

 more angry than before, whirling its mass of foam and 

 debris against the banks. As they reached the place 

 where the bridge ought to have been not a ray of star- 



