the champagne basket on a sort of shelf overhanging the tails of the
horses. At the top of the first hill is the village of Houstonville,
where they stopped at the post office to leave the mail, and where two
ladies appeared as claimants for seats in the stage. The driver at first
demurred; but, finding the ladies persistent, he drew forth a board,
and, fastening it at either end to a perpendicular prop, constructed a
third bench, on which the two new passengers took their places.

The stage was by this time more than well packed; but ere long the
process of lightening up commenced, as first the champagne basket, then
packages, bundles, and newspapers, were left at various dwellings along
the roadside. One novelty especially striking was the wayside post
office, consisting of a box on a pole, intended to contain the daily
newspaper therein thrust to await the coming of the owners.

Of course the driver was plied with numerous questions regarding the
thus far nameless lake. He had been up the Shawangunk mountain fishing,
but that was years before; there was a lake, but he had never heard any
name given to it; he had understood a house had been built since his
last visit; but he did not know if it was intended to accommodate
visitors during the night. Of one thing, however, he was quite certain,
and that was, the impossibility of finding a horse in New Paltz to take
the ladies up that evening. The inns had none to let; there were no
livery stables, and his own pair were too greatly fatigued by their
twenty-mile drive to venture up so steep an ascent; but he thought a
conveyance might be found for the following morning. The views along the
road were charming; and the sharp, jagged crest known as Paltz Point,
overhung the well-cultivated rolling valley beneath, giving a fair
promise of an extended and characteristic view.