eyond,
there dipped a pretty abrupt slope, and here was need for care and
quickness. Sometimes a step fell short, or struck one side, to avoid a
stone, or lengthened out to overpass it. The whole body was thrown more
back, and the heels dug solidly into the earth, at each downward leap.
Here and there, where the incline was steeper, four or five foot-tramps
followed rapidly upon each other; and then, gathering himself up, with a
sudden, strong clutch, as it were, the young man continued on as before.
Thus the slope was left behind; and now began a low, long stretch, lying
between meadows, overshadowed by a bordering of willow-trees, and
studded with lengths of surreptitious puddles, for the ground was
clayey, and the rain was unabsorbed. As Bressant entered upon it, he
felt the cold moisture of the air meet his warm face refreshingly; he
was breathing deep and regularly, and now let himself out to a yet
swifter pace than before.

The willow-trees started suddenly from the forward darkness, and
vanished past in a dusky twinkling. The road seemed drawn in swift,
smooth lines from beneath his feet, he moving as in a mighty treadmill.
The breeze softly smote his forehead, and whispered past his ears. Now
he rose lightly in the air over an unexpected puddle, striking the
farther side with feet together, and so on again. Twice or thrice, his
steps sounded hollowly over a plank bridging. At a distance, steadily
approaching, appeared the outlet, light against the dark willow setting.
When it was reached, ensued a rough acclivity, hard for knees and lungs,
winding upward for a considerable distance. Up the runner went, with
seemingly untired activity, and the stones and sand spurted from beneath
his ascending feet. The air became drier and warmer again as he mounted,
and the meadows slept beneath him in their clammy darkness.

Near the brow of the hill stood a farm-house, black against the sky.
Bressant marked the light through the curtained window, dimly bringing
out a transverse strip of road; the pump standing over its trough with
uplifted arm and dangling cup; the rambling shed, with the wagon half
hidden beneath it; the barn, with blank windowless front, and shingled
roof. A dog barked sharply at him, as he echoed by, but inaudibly to
Bressant's ears. Presently a raised sidewalk divided off from the road,
affording a smoother course; the outlying houses of the village slipped
past one after another; a white picket-fence tw