Occasionally he would make his appearance, holding his
sides convulsed with laughter, as he reeled and tottered
in every direction, but without ever losing his equilibrium.
At other times he would utter a loud shout, and, brandishing
his cudgel, dart at full speed along the streets, as if
he purposed singly to carry the town by (what Middlemore
often facetiously called) a coup de main. At these moments
were to be seen mothers rushing into the street to look
for, and hurry away, their loitering offspring, while
even adults were glad to hasten their movements, in order
to escape collision with the formidable Sampson; not that
either apprehended the slightest act of personal violence
from the old man, for he was harmless of evil as a child,
but because they feared the polished hoofs of Silvertail,
which shone amid the clouds of dust they raised as he
passed, like rings of burnished silver. Even the very
Indians, with whom the streets were at this period
habitually crowded, were glad to hug the sides of the
houses, while Sampson passed; and they who, on other
occasions, would have deemed it in the highest degree
derogatory to their dignity to have stepped aside at the
approach of danger, or to have relaxed a muscle of their
stern countenances, would then open a passage with a
rapidity which in them was remarkable, and burst into
loud laughter as they fled from side to side to make way
for Sampson. Sometimes, on these occasions, the latter
would suddenly check Silvertail, while in full career,
and, in a voice that could be beard from almost every
quarter of the little town, harangue them for half an
hour together in their own language, and with an air of