roads were soft and sandy,
as they still are in the seaboard country, it was the custom to ride
horses _barefooted_, there being no need for iron shoes. But now they
were about to ride up rocky mountain-paths and over the stony summits,
and it was suddenly discovered that their horses must be shod. So all
the smiths available were put actively at work making horseshoes and
nailing them on the horses' feet. It was this incident that gave rise to
the name of the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," as will appear
farther on.

At Germanna Governor Spotswood had a summer residence, to which he
retired when the weather grew sultry in the lower country. Colonel
William Byrd, a planter on the James River, has told us all about this
summer house of the governor. One of his stories is, that when he
visited there a tame deer, frightened at seeing him, leaped against a
large mirror in the drawing-room, thinking that it was a window, and
smashed it into splinters. It is not likely the governor thanked his
visitor for that.

After leaving Germanna the explorers soon entered a region quite unknown
to them. They were in high spirits, for everything about them was new
and delightful. The woods were in their full August foliage, the streams
gurgling, the birds warbling, beautiful views on every hand, and the
charm of nature's domain on all sides. At mid-day they would stop in
some green forest glade to rest and pasture their horses, and enjoy the
contents of their packs with a keen appetite given by the fresh forest
air.

To these repasts the hunters of the party added their share,
disappearing at intervals in the woods and returning with pheasant, wild
turkey, or mayhap a fat deer, to add to the woodland feast. At night
they would hobble their horses and leave them to graze, would eat
heartily of their own food with the grass for table-cloth and a fresh
appetite for sauce, then, wrapping their cloaks around them, would sleep
as soundly as if in their own beds at home. The story of the ride has
been written by one of the party, and it goes in much the way here
described.

The mountains were reached at length, and up their rugged sides the
party rode, seeking the easiest paths they could find. No one knows just
where this was, but it is thought that it was near Rockfish Gap, through
which the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad now passes. There are some who
say that they crossed the valley beyond the Blue Ridge and rode over the
Alleghany