University of Virginia Library

15. CHAPTER XV.

The visit to Madam Schuyler occurred of a Saturday
evening; and the matter of our adventure in company with
Jack and Moses, was to be decided on the following Monday.
When I rose and looked out of my window on the Sunday
morning, however, there appeared but very little prospect
of its being effected that spring, inasmuch as it rained heavily,
and there was a fresh south wind. We had reached
the 21st of March, a period of the year when a decided
thaw was not only ominous to the sleighing, but when it
actually predicted a permanent breaking up of the winter.
The season had been late, and it was thought the change
could not be distant.

The rain and south wind continued all that day, and torrents
of water came rushing down the short, steep streets,
effectually washing away everything like snow. Mr. Worden
preached, notwithstanding, and to a very respectable
congregation. Dirck and myself attended; but Jason preferred
sitting out a double half-hour glass sermon in the Dutch
church, delivered in a language of which he understood
very little, to lending his countenance to the rites of the
English service. Both Anneke and Mary Wallace found
their way up the hill, going in a carriage; though I observed
that Herman Mordaunt was absent. Guert was in the gallery,

in which we also sat; but I could not avoid remarking
that neither of the young ladies raised her eyes once, during
the whole service, as high as our pews. Guert whispered
something about this, as he hastened down stairs to hand
them to their carriage, when the congregation was dismissed,
begging me, at the same time, to be punctual to the appointment
for the next day. What he meant by this last remembrancer,
I did not understand; for the hills were beginning
to exhibit their bare breasts, and it was somewhat surprising
with what rapidity a rather unusual amount of snow had
disappeared. I had no opportunity to ask an explanation,
as Guert was too busy in placing the ladies in the carriage,
and the weather was not such as to admit of my remaining
a moment longer in the street than was indispensably necessary.

A change occurred in the weather during the night, the
rain having ceased, though the atmosphere continued mild,
and the wind was still from the south. It was the commencement
of the spring; and, as I walked round to Guert
Ten Eyck's house, to meet him at breakfast, I observed that
several vehicles with wheels were already in motion in the
streets, and that divers persons appeared to be putting away
their sleighs and sleds, as things of no further use, until the
next winter. Our springs do not certainly come upon us as
suddenly as some of which I have read, in the old world;
but when the snow and winter endure as far into March as
had been the case with that of the year 1758, the change is
often nearly magical.

“Here, then, is the spring opening,” I said to Dirck, as
we walked along the well-washed streets; “and, in a few
weeks, we must be off to the bush. Our business on the
Patent must be got along with, before the troops are put in
motion, or we may lose the opportunity of seeing a campaign.”

With such expectations and feelings I entered Guert's
bachelor abode; and the first words I uttered, were to sympathize
in his supposed disappointment.

“It is a great pity you did not propose the drive to the
ladies for Saturday,” I began; “for that was not only a
mild day, but the sleighing was excellent. As it is, you will
have to postpone your triumph until next winter.”

“I do not understand you!” cried Guert; Jack and Moses
never were in better heart, or in better condition. I think
they are equal to going to Kinderhook in two hours!”

“But who will furnish the roads with snow? By looking
out of the window, you will see that the streets are nearly
bare.”

“Streets and roads! Who cares for either, while we
have the river? We often use the river here, weeks at a
time, when the snow has left us. The ice has been remarkably
even the whole of this winter, and, now the snow is off
it, there will be no danger from the air-holes.”

I confess I did not much like the notion of travelling
twenty miles on the ice, but was far too much of a man to
offer any objections.

We breakfasted, and proceeded in a body to the residence
of Herman Mordaunt. When the ladies first heard that we
had come to claim the redemption of the half-promise given
at Madam Schuyler's, their surprise was not less than mine
had been, half an hour before, while their uneasiness was
probably greater.

“Surely, Jack and Moses cannot exhibit all their noble
qualities without snow!” exclaimed Anneke, laughing, “Ten
Eycks though they be!”

“We Albanians have the advantage of travelling on the
ice, when the the snow fails us,” answered Guert. “Here
is the river, near by, and never was the sleighing on it, better
than at this moment.”

“But, it has been many times safer, I should think.
This looks very much like the breaking up of winter!”

“That is probable enough, and so much greater the reason
why we should not delay, if you and Miss Mary ever
intend to learn what the blacks can do. It is for the honour
of Holland that I desire it, else would I not presume so far.
I feel every condescension of this sort, that I receive from
you two ladies, in a way I cannot express; for no one
knows, better than myself, how unworthy I am of your
smallest notice.”

This brought the signs of yielding, at once, into the mild
countenance of Mary Wallace. Guert's self-humiliation
never failed to do this. There was so much obvious truth
in his admission, so sincere a disposition to place himself,

where nature and education, or a want of education had
placed him, and most of all so profound a deference for the
mental superiority of Mary herself, that the female heart
found it impossible to resist. To my surprise, Guert's mistress,
contrary to her habit in such things, was the first to
join him, and to second his proposal. Herman Mordaunt
entering the room at this instant, the whole thing was referred
to him, as in reason it ought to have been.

“I remember to have travelled on the Hudson, a few
years since,” returned Herman Mordaunt, “the entire distance
between Albany and Sing-Sing, and a very good time
we had of it; much better than had we gone by land, for
there was little or no snow.”

“Just our case now, Miss Anneke!” cried Guert. “Good
sleighing on the river, but none on the land.”

“Was that near the end of March, dear Papa?” asked
Anneke, a little inquiringly.

“No, certainly not, for it was early in February. But
the ice, at this moment, must be near eighteen inches thick,
and strong enough to bear a load of hay.”

“Yes, Masser Herman,” observed Cato, a grey-headed
black, who had never called his master by any other name,
having known him from an infant; “yes, Masser Herman,
a load do come over dis minute.”

It appeared unreasonable to distrust the strength of the
ice, after this proof to the contrary, and Anneke submitted.
The party was arranged forthwith, and in the following
manner:—The two ladies, Guert and myself, were to be
drawn by the blacks, while Herman Mordaunt, Dirck, and
any one else they could enlist, were to follow in the New
York sleigh. It was hoped that an elderly female connection,
Mrs. Bogart, who resided at Albany, would consent to
be of the party, as the plan was to visit and dine with another
and a mutual connection of the Mordaunts, at Kinderhook.
While the sleighs were getting ready, Herman Mordaunt
walked round to the house of Mrs. Bogart, made his
request, and was successful.

The clock in the tower of the English church struck ten,
as both sleighs drove from Herman Mordaunt's door. There
was literally no snow in the middle of the streets; but enough
of it, mingled with ice, was still to be found nearer the

houses, to enable us to get down to the ferry, the point
where sleighs usually went upon the river. Here Herman
Mordaunt, who was in advance, checked his horses, and
turned to speak to Guert on the propriety of proceeding.
The ice near the shore had evidently been moved,
the river having risen a foot or two, in consequence of the
wind and the thaw, and there was a sort of icy wave cast
up near the land, over which it was indispensable to pass,
in order to get fairly on the river. As the top of this ridge,
or wave, was broken, it exposed a fissure that enabled us
to see the thickness of the ice, and this Guert pointed out in
proof of its strength. There was nothing unusual in a small
movement of the covering of the river, which the current
often produces; but, unless the vast fields below got in motion,
it was impossible for those above materially to change
their positions. Sleighs were passing, too, still bringing to
town, hay from the flats on the eastern bank, and there was
no longer any hesitation. Herman Mordaunt's sleigh passed
slowly over the ridge, having a care to the legs of the horses,
and ours followed in the same cautious manner, though the
blacks jumped across the fissure in spite of their master's
exertions.

Once on the river, however, Guert gave his blacks the
whip and rein, and away we went like the wind. The
smooth, icy surface of the Hudson was our road, the thaw
having left very few traces of any track. The water had
all passed beneath the ice, through cracks and fissures of
one sort and another, leaving us an even, dry, surface to
trot on. The wind was still southerly, though scarcely
warm, while a bright sun contributed to render our excursion
as gay to the eye, as it certainly was to our feelings.
In a few minutes every trace of uneasiness had vanished.
Away we went, the blacks doing full credit to their owner's
boasts, seeming scarcely to touch the ice, from which their
feet appeared to rebound with a sort of elastic force. Herman
Mordaunt's bays followed on our heels, and the sleighs
had passed over the well-known shoal of the Overslaugh,
within the first twenty minutes after they touched the river.

Every northern American is familiar with the effect that
the motion of a sleigh produces on the spirits, under favourable
circumstances. Had our party been altogether composed

of Albanians, there would probably have been no
drawback on the enjoyment, for use would have prevented
apprehension; but it required the few minutes I have mentioned
to give Anneke and Mary Wallace full confidence in
the ice. By the time we reached the Overslaugh, however,
their fears had vanished; and Guert confirmed their sense
of security, by telling them to listen to the sounds produced
by his horses' hoofs, which certainly conveyed the impresssion
of moving on a solid foundation.

Mary Wallace had never before been so gay in my presence,
as she appeared to be that morning. Once, or twice,
I fancied her eyes almost as bright as those of Anneke's,
and certainly her laugh was as sweet and musical. Both
the girls were full of spirits, and some little things occurred
that gave me hopes Bulstrode had no reason to fancy himself
as secure, as he sometimes seemed to be. A casual
remark of Guert's had the effect to bring out some of Anneke's
private sentiments on the subject; or, at least, so
they appeared to be to me.

“I am surprised that Mr. Mordaunt forgot to invite Mr.
Bulstrode to be one of our party, to-day,” cried Guert, when
we were below the Overslaugh. “The Major loves sleighing,
and he would have filled the fourth seat, in the other
sleigh, very agreeably. As for coming into this, that would
be refused him, were he even a general!”

“Mr. Bulstrode is English,” answered Anneke, with spirit,
“and fancies American amusements beneath the tastes of
one who has been presented at the Court of St. James.”

“Well, Miss Anneke, I cannot say that I agree with you
at all, in this opinion of Mr. Bulstrode,” Guert returned,
innocently. “It is true, he is English; that he fancies
an advantage, as does Corny Littlepage, here; but we must
make proper allowances for home-love and foreign-dislike.”

“`Corny Littlepage, here,' is only half English, and that
half is colony-born and colony-bred,” answered the laughing
girl, “and he has loved a sleigh from the time when he
first slid down hill—”

“Ah! Miss Anneke—let me entreat—”

“Oh! no allusion is intended to the Dutch church and
its neighbourhood;—but, the sports of childhood are always

dear to us, as are sometimes the discomforts. Habit and
prejudice are sister hand-maidens; and I never see one of
these gentlemen from home, taking extraordinary interest
in any of our peculiarly colony usages, but I distrusted an
extra amount of complaisance, or a sort of enjoyment in
which we do not strictly share.”

“Is this altogether liberal to Bulstrode, Miss Anneke,” I
ventured to put in; “he seems to like us, and I am sure he
has good reason so to do. That he likes some of us, is too
apparent to be concealed or denied.”

“Mr. Bulstrode is a skilful actor, as all who saw his Cato
must be aware,” retorted the charming girl, compressing
her pouting lips in a way that seemed to me to be inexpressibly
pleasing; “and those who saw his Scrub must be
equally convinced of the versatility of his talents. No, no;
Major Bulstrode is better where he is, or will be to-day, at
four o'clock—at the head of the mess of the —th, instead
of dining in a snug Dutch parlour, with my cousin, worthy
Mrs. van der Heyden, at a dinner got up with colony hospitality,
and colony good-will, and colony plainness. The
entertainment we shall receive to-day, sweetened, as it will
be, by the welcome which will come from the heart, can
have no competitor in countries where a messenger must be
sent two days before the visit, to ask permission to come, in
order to escape cold looks and artificial surprise. I would
prefer surprising my friends from the heart, instead of from
the head.”

Guert expressed his astonishment that any one should not
always be glad and willing to receive his friends; and insisted
on it, that no such inhospitable customs could exist.
I knew, however, that society could not exist on the same
terms, in old and in new countries—among a people that
was pressed upon by numbers, and a people that had not
yet felt the evils of a superabundant population. Americans
are like dwellers in the country, who are always glad to see
their friends; and I ventured to say something of the causes
of these differences in habits.

Nothing occurred worthy of being dwelt on, in our ride
to Kinderhook. Mrs. Van der Heyden resided at a short
distance from theriver, and the blacks and the bays had
some little difficulty in dragging us through the mud to her

door. Once there, however, our welcome fully verified the
theory of the colony habits, which had been talked over in
our drive down. Anneke's worthy connection was not only
glad to see her, as anybody might have been, but she would
have been glad to receive as many as her house would hold.
Few excuses were necessary, for we were all welcome.
The visit would retard her dinner an hour, as was frankly
admitted—but that was nothing; and cakes and wine were
set before us in the interval, did we feel hungry in consequence
of a two hours' ride. Guert was desired to make
free, and go to the stables to give his own orders. In a
word, our reception was just that which every colonist has
experienced, when he has gone unexpectedly to visit a friend,
or a friend's friend. Our dinner was excellent, though not
accompanied by much form. The wine was good; Mrs.
van der Heyden's deceased husband having been a judge
of what was desirable in that respect. Everybody was in
good-humour; and our hostess insisted on giving us coffee
before we took our departure.

“There will be a moon, cousin Herman,” she said, “and
the night will be both light and pleasant. Guert knows the
road, which cannot well be missed, as it is the river; and
if you quit me at eight, you will reach home in good season
to go to rest. It is so seldom I see you, that I have a right
to claim every minute you can spare. There remains much
to be told concerning our old friends and mutual relatives.”

When such words are accompanied by looks and acts
that prove their sincerity, it is not easy to tear ourselves
away from a pleasant house. We chatted on, laughed,
listened to stories and colony anecdotes that carried us back
to the last war, and heard a great many eulogiums on beaux
and belles, that we young people had, all our lives, considered
as respectable, elderly, common-place sort of persons.

At length the hour arrived when even Mrs. Bogart herself
admitted we ought to part. Anneke and Mary were
kissed, enveloped in their furs, and kissed again, and then
we took our leave. As we left the house, I remarked that a
clock in the passage struck eight. In a few minutes every
one was placed, and the runners were striking fire from the
flints of the bare ground. We had less difficulty in descending
than in ascending the bank of the river- though

there was no snow. It did not absolutely freeze, nor had it
actually frozen since the commencement of the thaw, but
the earth had stiffened since the disappearance of the sun.
I was much rejoiced when the blacks sprang upon the ice,
and whirled us away, on our return road, at a rate even
exceeding the speed with which they had come down it in
the morning. I thought it high time we should be in motion
on our return; and in motion we were, if flying at the rate
of eleven miles in the hour could thus be termed.

The light of the moon was not clear and bright, for there
was a haze in the atmosphere, as is apt to occur in the mild
weather of March; but there was enough to enable Guert
to dash ahead with as great a velocity as was at all desirable.
We were all in high spirits; us two young men so
much the more, because each of us fancied he had seen that
day evidence of a tender interest existing in the heart of his
mistress towards himself. Mary Wallace had managed,
with a woman's tact, to make her suitor appear even respectable
in female society, and had brought out in him
many sentiments that denoted a generous disposition and a
manly heart, if not a cultivated intellect; and Guert was
getting confidence, and with it the means of giving his capacity
fairer play. As for Anneke, she now knew my aim,
and I had some right to construe several little symptoms of
feeling, that escaped her in the course of the day, favourably.
I fancied that, gentle as it always was, her voice
grew softer, and her smile sweeter and more winning, as
she addressed herself to, or smiled on me; and she did just
enough of both not to appear distant, and just little enough
to appear conscious; at least such were the conjectures of
one who I do not think could be properly accused of too
much confidence, and whose natural diffidence was much
increased by the self-distrust of the purest love.

Away we went, Guert's complicated chimes of bells
jingling their merry notes in a manner to be heard half a
mile, the horses bearing hard on the bits, for they knew that
their own stables lay at the end of their journey, and Herman
Mordaunt's bays keeping so near us that, notwithstanding
the noise we made with our own bells, the sounds of
his were constantly in our ears. An hour went swiftly by,
and we had already passed Coejeman's, and had a hamlet

that stretched along the strand, and which lay quite beneath
the high bank of the river, in dim distant view. This place
has since been known by the name of Monkey Town, and
is a little remarkable as being the first cluster of houses on
the shores of the Hudson after quitting Albany. I dare
say it has another name in law, but Guert gave it the appellation
I have mentioned.

I have said that the night had a sombre, misty, light, the
moon wading across the heavens through a deep but thin
ocean of vapour. We saw the shores plainly enough, and
we saw the houses and trees, but it was difficult to distinguish
smaller objects at any distance. In the course of the
day twenty sleighs had been met or passed, but at that hour
everybody but ourselves appeared to have deserted the river.
It was getting late for the simple habits of those who dwelt
on its shores. When about half-way between the islands
opposite to Coejeman's and the hamlet just named, Guert,
who stood erect to drive, told us that some one who was
out late, like themselves, was coming down. The horses
of the strangers were in a very fast trot, and the sleigh
was evidently inclining towards the west shore, as if those
it held intended to land at no great distance. As it passed,
quite swiftly, a man's voice called out something on a high
key, but our bells made so much noise that it was not easy
to understand him. He spoke in Dutch, too, and none of
our ears, those of Guert excepted, were sufficiently expert
in that language to be particularly quick in comprehending
what he said. The call passed unheeded, then, such things
being quite frequent among the Dutch, who seldom passed
each other on the highway without a greeting of some sort
or other. I was thinking of this practice, and of the points
that distinguished our own habits from those of the people
of this part of the colony, when sleigh-bells sounded quite
near me, and turning my head, I saw Herman Mordaunt's bays galloping close to us, as if wishing to get alongside.
At the next moment the object was effected, and Guert
pulled up.

“Did you understand the man who passed down, Guert?”
demanded Herman Mordaunt, as soon as all noises ceased.
“He called out to us, at the top of his voice, and would
hardly do that without an object.”

“These men seldom go home, after a visit to Albany,
without filling their jugs,” answered Guert, drily; “what
could he have to say, more than to wish us good-night?”

“I cannot tell, but Mrs. Bogart thought she understood
something about `Albany,' and `the river.”'

“The ladies always fancy Albany is to sink into the
river after a great thaw,” answered Guert, good-humouredly;
“but I can show either of them that the ice is sixteen
inches thick, here where we stand.”

Guert then gave me the reins, stepped out of the sleigh,
went a short distance to a large crack that he had seen
while speaking, and returned with a thumb placed on the
handle of the whip, as a measure to show that his statement
was true. The ice, at that spot, was certainly nearer eighteen
than sixteen inches thick. Herman Mordaunt showed
the measure to Mrs. Bogart, whose alarm was pacified by
this positive proof. Neither Anneke nor Mary exhibited
any fear; but, on the contrary, as the sleighs separated
again, each had something pleasant, but feminine, to say at
the expense of poor Mrs. Bogart's imagination.

I believe I was the only person in our own sleigh who felt
any alarm, after the occurrence of this little incident. Why
uneasiness beset me, I cannot precisely say. It must have
been altogether on Anneke's account, and not in the least
on my own. Such accidents as sleighs breaking through,
on our New York lakes and rivers, happened almost every
winter, and horses were often drowned; though it was seldom
the consequences proved so serious to their owners.
I recalled to mind the fragile nature of ice, the necessary
effects of the great thaw and the heavy rains, remembering
that frozen water might still retain most of its apparent
thickness, after its consistency was greatly impaired. But,
I could do nothing! If we landed, the roads were impassable
for runners, almost for wheels, and another hour might
carry the ladies, by means of the river, to their comfortable
homes. That day, however, which, down to the moment
of meeting the unknown sleigh, had been the very happiest
of my life, was entirely changed in its aspect, and I no
longer regarded it with any satisfaction. Had Anneke been
at home, I could gladly have entered into a contract to pass

a week on the river myself, as the condition of her safety.
I thought but little of the others, to my shame be it said,
though I cannot do myself the injustice to imagine, had
Anneke been away, that I would have deserted even a
horse, while there was a hope of saving him.

Away we went! Guert drove rapidly, but he drove with
judgment, and it seemed as if his blacks knew what was
expected of them. It was not long before we were trotting
past the hamlet I have mentioned. It would seem that the
bells of the two sleighs attracted the attention of the people
on the shore, all of whom had not yet gone to bed; for the
door of a house opened, and two men issued out of it, gazing
at us as we trotted past at a pace that defied pursuit. These
men also hallooed to us, in Dutch, and again Herman Mordaunt
galloped up alongside, to speak to us.

“Did you understand these men?” he called out, for this
time Guert did not see fit to stop his horses; “they, too,
had something to tell us.”

“These people always have something to tell an Albany
sleigh, Mr. Mordaunt,” answered Guert; “though it is not
often that which it would do any good to hear.”

“But Mrs. Bogart thinks they also had something to say
about `Albany,' and the `river.”'

“I understand Dutch as well as excellent Mrs. Bogart,”
said Guert, a little drily; “and I heard nothing; while I
fancy I understand the river better. This ice would bear a
dozen loads of hay, in a close line.”

This again satisfied Herman Mordaunt and the ladies, but
it did not satisfy me. Our own bells made four times the
noise of those of Herman Mordaunt; and it was very possible
that one, who understood Dutch perfectly, might comprehend
a call in that language, while seated in his own
sleigh, when the same call could not be comprehended by
the same person, while seated in Guert's. There was no
pause, however; on we trotted; and another mile was passed,
before any new occurrence attracted attention.

The laugh was again heard among us, for Mary Wallace
consented to sing an air, that was rendered somewhat ludicrous
by the accompaniment of the bells. This song, or

verse or two, for the singer got no further on account of the
interruption, had drawn Guert's and my attention behind us,
or away from the horses, when a whirling sound was heard,
followed immediately by a loud shout. A sleigh passed
within ten yards of us, going down, and the whirling sound
was caused by its runners, while the shout came from a
solitary man, who stood erect, waving his whip and calling
to us in a loud voice, as long as he could be heard. This
was but for a moment, however, as his horses were on the
run; and the last we could see of the man, through the
misty moon-light, he had turned his whip on his team, to
urge it ahead still faster. In an instant, Herman Mordaunt
was at our side, for the third time that night, and he called
out to us somewhat authoritatively to stop.

“What can all this mean, Guert?” he asked. “Three
times have we had warnings about `Albany' and the `river.'
I heard this man myself utter those two words, and cannot
be mistaken.”

“I dare say, sir, that you may have heard something of
the sort,” answered the still incredulous Guert; “for these
chaps have generally some impertinence to utter, when they
pass a team that is better than their own. These blacks of
mine, Herman Mordaunt, awaken a good deal of envy,
whenever I go out with them; and a Dutchman will forgive
you any other superiority, sooner than he will overlook
your having the best team. That last man had a spur in
his head, moreover, and is driving his cattle, at this moment,
more like a spook than like a humane and rational being. I
dare say he asked if we owned Albany and the river.”

Guert's allusion to his horses occasioned a general laugh;
and laughter is little favourable to cool reflection. We all
looked out on the solemn and silent night, cast our eyes
along the wide and long reach of the river, in which we
happened to be, and saw nothing but the calm of nature,
rendered imposing by solitude and the stillness of the hour.
Guert smilingly renewed his assurances that all was right,
and moved on. Away we went! Guert evidently pressed
his horses, as if desirous of being placed beyond this anxiety
as soon as possible. The blacks flew, rather than trotted;
and we were all beginning to submit to the exhilaration of

so rapid and easy a motion, when a sound which resembled
that which one might suppose the simultaneous explosion of
a thousand rifles would produce, was heard, and caused both
drivers to pull up; the sleighs stopping quite near each other,
and at the same instant! A slight exclamation escaped old
Mrs. Bogart; but Anneke and Mary remained still as death.

“What means that sound, Guert?” inquired Herman
Mordaunt; the concern he felt being betrayed by the very
tone of his voice. “Something seems wrong!”

“Something is wrong,” answered Guert, coolly, but very
decidedly; “and it is something that must be seen to.”

As this was said, Guert stepped out on the ice, which he
struck a hard blow with the heel of his boot, as if to make
certain of its solidity. A second report was heard, and it
evidently came from behind us. Guert gazed intently down
the river; then he laid his head close to the surface of the
ice, and looked again. At the same time, three or four more
of these startling reports followed each other in quick succession.
Guert instantly rose to his feet.

“I understand it, now,” he said, “and find I have been
rather too confident. The ice, however, is safe and strong,
and we have nothing to fear from its weakness. Perhaps
it would be better to quit the river notwithstanding, though
I am far from certain the better course will not be to
push on.”

“Let us know the danger at once, Mr. Ten Eyck,” said
Herman Mordaunt, “that we may decide for the best.”

“Why, sir, I am afraid that the rains and the thaw together,
have thrown so much water into the river, all at
once, as it might be, as to have raised the ice and broken it
loose, in spots, from the shores. When this happens above,
before the ice has disappeared below, it sometimes causes
dams to form, which heap up such a weight as to break the
whole plain of ice far below it, and thus throw cakes over
cakes until walls twenty or thirty feet high are formed.
This has not happened yet, therefore there is no immediate
danger; but by bending your heads low, you can see that
such a break has just taken place about half a mile below
us.”

We did as Guert directed, and saw that a mound had
arisen across the river nearer than the distance named by
our companion, completely cutting off retreat by the way
we had come. The bank on the west side of the Hudson
was high at the point where we were, and looking intensely
at it, I saw by the manner in which the trees disappeared,
the more distant behind those that were nearer, that we were
actually in motion! An involuntary exclamation caused
the whole party to comprehend this startling fact at the same
instant. We were certainly in motion, though very slowly,
on the ice of that swollen river, in the quiet and solitude of
a night in which the moon rather aided in making danger
apparent than in assisting us to avoid it! What was to be
done? It was necessary to decide, and that promptly and
intelligently.

We waited for Herman Mordaunt to advise us, but he
referred the matter at once to Guert's greater experience.

“We cannot land here,” answered the young man, “so
long as the ice is in motion, and I think it better to push on.
Every foot will bring us so much nearer to Albany, and we
shall get among the islands a mile or two higher, where the
chances of landing will be greatly increased. Besides, I
have often crossed the river on a cake, for they frequently
stop, and I have known even loaded sleighs profit by them
to get over the river. As yet there is nothing very
alarming;—let us push on, and get nearer to the islands.”

This, then, was done, though there was no longer heard
the laugh or the song among us. I could see that Herman
Mordaunt was uneasy about Anneke, though he could not
bring her into his own sleigh, leaving Mary Wallace alone;
neither could he abandon his respectable connection, Mrs.
Bogart. Before we re-entered the sleighs, I took an occasion
to assure him that Anneke should be my especial care.

“God bless you, Corny, my dear boy,” Herman Mordaunt
answered, squeezing my hand with fervour. “God
bless you, and enable you to protect her. I was about to
ask you to change seats with me; but, on the whole, I think
my child will be safer with you than she could be with me.
We will await God's pleasure as accident has placed us.”

“I will desert her only with life, Mr. Mordaunt. Be at
ease on that subject.”

“I know you will not—I am sure you will not, Littlepage;
that affair of the lion is a pledge that you will not.
Had Bulstrode come, we should have been strong enough
to—but Guert is impatient to be off. God bless you, boy
—God bless you. Do not neglect my child.”

Guert was impatient, and no sooner was I in the sleigh
than we were once more in rapid motion. I said a few
words to encourage the girls, and then no sound of a human
voice mingled with the gloomy scene.