Partially
covered with a second growth of timber, and surrounded on all sides
by the dark forest.
"I guess," quoth our Yankee driver, "that at the bottom of this 'ere
swell, you'll find yourself to hum;" and plunging into a short path
cut through the wood, he pointed to a miserable hut, at the bottom
of a steep descent, and cracking his whip, exclaimed, "'Tis a smart
location that. I wish you Britishers may enjoy it."
I gazed upon the place in perfect dismay, for I had never seen such
a shed called a house before. "You must be mistaken; that is not a
house, but a cattle-shed, or pig-sty."
The man turned his knowing, keen eye upon me, and smiled,
half-humorously, half-maliciously, as he said -
"You were raised in the old country, I guess; you have much to
learn, and more, perhaps, than you'll like to know, before the
winter is over."
I was perfectly bewildered - I could only stare at the place, with
my eyes swimming in tears; but as the horses plunged down into the
broken hollow, my attention was drawn from my new residence to the
perils which endangered life and limb at every step. The driver,
however, was well used to such roads, and, steering us dexterously
between the black stumps, at length drove up, not to the door, for
there was none to the house, but to the open space from which that
absent but very necessary appendage had been removed.
