brawny a man as the former had been when he first won the love
of the rich Virginian heiress.

He was full of life and energy, and in this respect offered a strong
contrast to most of his schoolfellows of the same age. For
although splendid riders and keen sportsmen, the planters of
Virginia were in other respects inclined to indolence; the result
partly of the climate, partly of their being waited upon from
childhood by attendants ready to carry out every wish. He had his
father's cheerful disposition and good temper, together with the
decisive manner so frequently acquired by a service in the army,
and at the same time he had something of the warmth and
enthusiasm of the Virginian character.

Good rider as he was he was somewhat surprised at the horse the
overseer had selected for him. It was certainly a splendid animal,
with great bone and power; but there was no mistaking the
expression of its turned-back eye, and the ears that lay almost flat
on the head when any one approached him.

"It is a splendid animal, no doubt, Jonas," he said the first time he
inspected it; "but he certainly looks as if he had a beast of a
temper. I fear what was told my mother about him is no
exaggeration; for Mr. Markham told me to-day, when I rode down
there with his son, and said that we had bought Wildfire, that a
friend of his had had him once, and only kept him for a week, for
he was the most vicious brute he ever saw."

"I am sorry I have bought him now, sir," Jonas said. "Of course I
should not have done so if I had heard these things before; but I