374 A TOUGH WALK FOR A YOUTH.
up with us. Poor S. was panting many yards behind, and was talking
of purchasing a horse. We had now, however, a tolerably good road, and
in the evening got to a house where I inquired if we could have a supper
and beds. When I came out, VICTOR was asleep on the grass, Mr ROSE
looking at his sore toes, and S. just finishing a jug of monongahela.
Here we resolved that, instead of going by Henderson, we should take a
cut across to the right, and make direct for Smith's Ferry, by way of
Highland Lick Creek.
Next day we trudged along, but nothing very remarkable occurred
excepting that we saw a fine black wolf quite tame and gentle, the owner
of which had refused a hundred dollars for it. Mr ROSE, who was an
engineer, and a man of taste, amused us with his flageolet, and frequently
spoke of his wife, his children, and his fireside, which increased my
good opinion of him. At an orchard we filled our pockets with October
peaches, and when we came to Trade Water River we found it quite low.
The acorns were already drifted on its shallows, and the Wood Ducks
were running about picking them up. Passing a flat bottom, we saw a
large Buffalo Lick. Where now are the bulls which erst scraped its
earth away, bellowing forth their love or their anger ?
Good Mr ROSE'S feet became sorer and sorer each succeeding day;
Mr S. at length nearly gave up ; my son had grown brisker. The 20th
was cloudy, and we dreaded rain, as we knew the country to be flat and
clayey. In Union County, we came to a large opening, and found the
house of a Justice, who led us kindly to the main road, and accompanied
us for a mile, giving us excellent descriptions of brooks, woods and barrens,
notwithstanding which we should have been much puzzled, had not a
neighbour on horseback engaged to shew us the way. The rain now fell
in torrents, and rendered us very uncomfortable, but at length we reached
Highland Lick, where we stumbled on a cabin, the door of which we
thrust open, overturning a chair that had been placed behind it. On a
dirty bed lay a man, a table with a journal or perhaps a ledger before him,
a small cask in a corner near him, a brass pistol on a nail over his head,
and a long Spanish dagger by his side. He rose and asked what was
wanted. " The way to a better place, the road to SUGGS'S." " Follow the
road, and you'll get to his house in about five miles !" My party were
waiting for me, warming themselves by the fires of the salt-kettles. The
being I had seen was an overseer. By-and-by we crosssed a creek; the
A TOUGH WALK FOR A YOUTH. 375
country was hilly, clayey and slippery ; Mr S. was cursing, ROSE limped
like a lame duck, but VICTOR kept up like a veteran.
Another day, kind Reader, and I shall for a while shut my journal.
The morning of the 21st was beautiful; we had slept comfortably at
SUGGS'S, and we soon found ourselves on pleasant barrens, with an agreeable
road. ROSE and S. were so nearly knocked up, that they proposed
to us to go on without them. We halted and talked a few minutes on
the subject, when our companions stated their resolution to proceed at a
slower pace. So we bade them adieu. I asked my son how he felt; he
laughed and quickened his steps; and in a short time our former associates
were left out of sight. In about two hours we were seated in the
Green River ferry-boat, with our legs hanging in the water. At Smith's
Ferry this stream looks like a deep lake ; and the thick cane on its banks,
the large overhanging willows, and its dark green waters, never fail to
form a fine picture, more especially in the calm of an autumnal evening.
Mr SMITH gave us a good supper, sparkling cider, and a comfortable bed.
It was arranged that he should drive us to Louisville in his dearborne;
and so here ended our walk of two hundred and fifty miles. Should you
wish to accompany us during the remainder of our journey, I have only
to refer you to the article " Hospitality in the Woods," which you wil
find in a former volume.