I-V

They rose steadily, crossing the roof of a
ridge, and descended abruptly beyond.
Green prospects opened before them -- a
broad valley was disclosed, with a broad, shallow
stream dividing its meadows; scattered farmhouses,
orderly, prosperous, commanded their shorn acres.
A mailbag was detached and left at a crossroad
in charge of two little girls, primly important,
smothered in identical, starched pink sunbonnets.
The Greenstream stage splashed through the shallow,
shining ford; the ascent on the far side of the
valley imperceptibly began.

The sun was almost at the zenith; the shadow of
the stage fell short and sharp on the dry, loamy
road; a brown film covered the horses and vehicle;
it sifted through the apparel of the passengers and
coated their lips. The rise to the roof of the succeeding
range seemed interminable; the road looped
fields blue with buckwheat, groves of towering, majestic
chestnut, a rocky slope, where, by a crevice, a
swollen and sluggish rattlesnake dropped from sight.

At last, in the valley beyond, the half-way house,
dinner and a change of horses were reached. The

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v?