Rodney always remembered that morning in May, when Nat "single-footed" the hill without stopping. No knight ever stormed a castle, no pilgrim ever approached a shrine with greater earnestness. So eager was he that he did not fully appreciate the glorious beauties of the landscape. The Rivanna River looked like a ribbon of silvery satin laid on green velvet, all in striking contrast with the red soil of the tilled fields. The Blue Ridge mountains, nearly fifty miles distant, were, in the clear air, a massive and misty blue background for the picturesque Ragged Mountains near at hand. There was little about such small portion of the house as was then built to indicate to the boy what its future charms would be. Later, when Mr. Jefferson talked with him, and explained the plans he had made, Rodney understood and admired what, after thirty years in building, thousands have since admired, the beautiful "Monticello." Mr. Jefferson was found in his garden, working among his early vegetables. His face was red from sunburn and he was dressed in a blue coat, gray waistcoat and green knee breeches. He recognized the lad at once, and greeted him pleasantly. He had been measuring the growth of various plants, during stated periods, and with different fertilizers, and was recording these facts in his neat handwriting, such as four years later was to appear on the famous Declaration of Independence. "That's a fine colt you have there," he exclaimed with enthusiasm, as he noted the horse Rodney had ridden, and which was being held by a small black boy. "Nat is a fine animal, sir." "And well groomed." "I care for him myself. He belongs to me, for father gave him to me when he was a little fellow. He has learned several tricks. Nat, do you want to go home?" Nat pawed the ground twice and whinnied vigorously. "That's his way of saying yes, isn't it, Nat, boy?" The colt's answer was to thrust his velvety muzzle caressingly against the lad's cheek, blinking his large purplish eyes the while. He was truly a fine animal with breeding in every line, dark bay in colour, with a black stripe running from mane to tail. Seeing an opportunity, Rodney said: "Mr. Jefferson, may I ask your advice?" "Certainly you may." "I--I'm afraid father made a mistake when he bought our place of old--er Mr. Denham. I've been told two other men bought it and made a failure, having a mortgage on it. I don't know whether father gave Denham a mortgage, but I do know that, while he wants to go out on the Ohio and take up his soldier's claim to land, he doesn't think it wise to leave home, I suppose on account of debts. I feel sure he ought to go. I want to go with him, but if I can do more by staying at home I ought to. Don't you think he should go?"