nions chuckled over stories of "rotten ditches" that were
left purposely to betray the unwary; swinging gates that would open at
the least touch, and inevitably catch the horse that attempted to clear,
if the hoof but grazed them; bog-holes, to swamp, and stone fences, to
smash,--had their share of approval; but a drain dug eight feet deep,
and that must certainly break the back of the horse, if not of the rider
also, who made a "mistake" over it, seemed the triumph which carried
away the suffrages of the whole assembly.

Now, although I had seen far more of real sport and horsemanship than
the others, these narratives were for the most part new to me; and I
listened with a high interest to every scheme and trick by which cunning
can overreach and outmanoeuvre simplicity. The admiration of adroit
knavery is the first step on the road to fraud; and he who laughs
heartily at a clever trick, seldom suspects how he is "booking himself"
for the same road. For my own part, neither were my principles so fixed,
nor my education so careful, that I did not conceive a very high respect
for the rogue, and a very contemptuous disdain for his victim.

Morning came, and a bright sunny one it was, with a keen frost and that
kind of sharp air that invigorates and braces both mind and body. The
crisp, clear outline of every tree and building seen against the deep
blue sky; the sparkling river, with its clean bed of bright gravel; and
the ruddy faces one meets,--are all of a nature to suggest pleasant and
cheerful thoughts. Even we--we, with our frail fragments and chapped
hands--felt it, and there was an alacrity of movement and a bounding
step, a gay laugh and a merry voice, everywhere. All set out for
Kingstown, in the neighborhood of which the race was to come off. I
alone remained behind, resisting every entreaty of my companions to join
them,--I cannot yet say why I did so. It was partly that long habit had
made my attendance upon "the Captain" a duty; partly, perhaps, that some
vague notion that the letter, of which I still kept possession, should
be delivered by me at last.

The town was quite empty on that day,--not a carriage, nor a horseman
to be seen. There were very few on foot, and the Square was deserted of
all, save its nursery population. I never felt a more tedious morning.
I had full time, as I loitered along all alone, to contrast my solitude
with the enjoyment my companions were at that same moment pursuing.

True