ange county, Mr. Archer? I was telling the old
woman yesterday that we should have you by before long; well, you'll
find cock pretty plenty, I expect; there was a chap by here from Ulster
--let me see, what day was it--Friday, I guess--with produce, and he was
telling, they have had no cold snap yet up there! Thank you, sir, good
luck to you!"

And off we went again, along a level road, crossing the broad, slow
river from whence it takes its name, into the town of Hackensack.

"We breakfast here, Frank"--as he pulled up beneath the low Dutch shed
projecting over half the road in front of the neat tavern--"How are you,
Mr. Vanderbeck--we want a beefsteak, and a cup of tea, as quick as you
can give it us; we'll make the tea ourselves; bring in the black tea,
Tim--the nags as usual."

"Aye! aye! sur"--"tak them out--leave t' harness on, all but their
bridles"--to an old gray-headed hostler. "Whisp off their legs a bit; Ay
will be oot enoo!"

After as good a breakfast as fresh eggs, good country bread--worth ten
times the poor trash of city bakers--prime butter, cream, and a fat
steak could furnish, at a cheap rate, and with a civil and obliging
landlord, away we went again over the red-hills--an infernal ugly road,
sandy, and rough, and stony--for ten miles farther to New Prospect.

"Now you shall see some scenery worth looking at," said Harry, as we
started again, after watering the horses, and taking in a bag with a
peck of oats--"to feed at three o'clock, Frank, when we stop to grub,
which must do al fresco--" my friend explained--"for the landlord, who
kept the only tavern on the road, went West this summer, bit by the land
mania, and there is now no stopping place 'twixt this and Warwick,"
naming the village for which we were bound. "You got that beef boiled,
Tim?"

"Ay'd been a fouil else, and aye so often oop t' road too," answered he
with a grin, "and t' moostard is mixed, and t' pilot biscuit in, and a
good bit o' Cheshire cheese! wee's doo, Ay reckon. Ha! ha! ha!"

And now my friend's boast was indeed fulfilled; for when we had driven a
few miles farther, the country became undulating, with many and bright
streams of water; the hill sides clothed with luxuriant woodlands, now
in their many-colored garb of autumn beauty; the meadow-land rich in
unchanged fresh greenery--for the summer had been mild and rainy--with
here and there a buckwheat stubble showing its ruddy face, replete with
promise of quail in t