loss to distinguish the faintly-marked pathway that led in a more
direct course to the place of destination. The storm coming up
suddenly from the north, and showers of hail accompanying the gusts,
caused the poor driver to incline his face to the left, to avoid the
peltings that assailed him so frequently; and the drenched horses,
similarly influenced, had unconsciously departed far from the right
line of march; and now, rather than turn his front again to the
pitiless blast, which could be the only means of regaining the road,
Joe preferred diverging still farther, until he should find himself on
the margin of the river, by which time he hoped the storm would abate.
At all events, he thought there would be more safety on the beach,
which extended out a hundred paces from the water, among the small
switches of cotton-wood that grew thereon, than in the midst of the
tall trees of the forest, where a heavy branch was every now and then
torn off by the wind, and thrown to the earth with a terrible crash.
Occasionally a deafening explosion of thunder would burst overhead;
and Joe, prostrating himself on the neck of his horse, would, with his
eyes closed and his teeth set, bear it out in silence. He spoke not,
save to give an occasional word of command to his team, or a brief
reply to a question from his master.

It was an odd spectacle to see such a vehicle trudging along at such
an hour, where no carriage had ever passed before. The two young men
were odd characters; the horses were oddly matched, one being a little
dumpy black pony, and the other a noble white steed; and it was an odd
whim which induced Glenn to abandon his comfortable home in
Philadelphia, and traverse such inclement wilds. But love can play the
"_wild_" with any young man. Yet we will not spoil our narrative by
introducing any of it here. Nor could it have been love that induced
Joe to share his master's freaks; but rather a rare penchant for the