American fiction -- 19th century; Short stories; Western stories
He was awake at the first streak of dawn. He again bathed his horse's
shoulder, saddled, but did not mount him, as the beast, although better,
was still stiff, and Dick wished to spare him for the journey to still
distant Havre, although he had determined to lie over that night at the
first wayside inn. Luckily for him, the disturbance at the chateau had
not extended to the forest, for Dick had to lead his horse slowly and
could not have escaped; but no suspicion of external intrusion seemed to
have been awakened, and the woodland was, evidently, seldom invaded.
By dint of laying his course by the sun and the exercise of a little
woodcraft, in the course of two hours he heard the creaking of a
hay-cart, and knew that he was near a traveled road. But to his
discomfiture he presently came to a high wall, which had evidently
guarded this portion of the woods from the public. Time, however, had
made frequent breaches in the stones; these had been roughly filled in
with a rude abatis of logs and treetops pointing towards the road. But
as these were mainly designed to prevent intrusion into the park rather
than egress from it, Dick had no difficulty in rolling them aside and
emerging at last with his limping steed upon the white high-road.
The creaking cart had passed; it was yet early for traffic, and Dick
presently came upon a wine-shop, a bakery, a blacksmith's shop, laundry,
and a somewhat pretentious cafe and hotel in a broader space which
marked the junction of another road.
Directly before it, however, to his consternation, were the massive, but
timeworn, iron gates of a park, which Dick did not doubt was the one
in which he had spent the previous night. But it was impossible to go
further in his present plight, and he boldly approached the restaurant.
As he was preparing to make his usual explanatory signs, to his great
delight he was addressed in a quaint, broken English, mixed with
forgotten American slang, by the white-trousered, black-alpaca coated
proprietor. More than that--he was a Social Democrat and an enthusiastic
lover of America--had he not been to “Bos-town” and New York, and
penetrated as far west as “Booflo,” and had much pleasure in that
beautiful and free country? Yes! it was a “go-a-'ed” country--you
“bet-your-lif'.” One had reason to say so: there was your
electricity--your street cars--your “steambots”--ah! such steambots--and
your “r-rail-r-roads.” Ah! observe! compare your r-rail-r-roads and the
buffet of the Pullman with the line from Paris, for example--and where
is one? Nowhere! Actually, positively, without doubt, nowhere!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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