at a sluggish pace; for, having no object in view,
nor any reason to go one way more than an-
other, it would certainly have been foolish to
make haste. Whenever he met any body, the
old question was at his tongue's end:

"Have you seen a beautiful maiden, dressed
like a king's daughter, and mounted on a snow-
white bull, that gallops as swiftly as the wind?"

But, remembering what the oracle had said,
he only half uttered the words, and then mum-
bled the rest indistinctly; and from his confu-
sion, people must have imagined that this hand-
some young man had lost his wits.

I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor
could he himself have told you, when, at no
great distance before him, he beheld a brindled
cow. She was lying down by the wayside, and
quietly chewing her cud; nor did she take any
notice of the young man until he had approached
pretty nigh. Then, getting leisurely upon her
feet, and giving her head a gentle toss, she began
to move along at a moderate pace, often paus-
ing just long enough to crop a mouthful of grass.
Cadmus loitered behind, whistling idly to him-
gelf, and scarcely noticing the cow; until the

[[139]]

p138 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p139w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p140

v?