Beadle's Dime Novels No. 35: East and West — page 75: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

a ——— AN EXCURSION. "5 Bad as the case appeared to Minnie, she could not long feel the fretfulness of care while the world looked so beautiful as it did that day, in the soft, golden light of October. The new city that had sprung up under their eyes that summer—every day adding another house to its rows of white- painted dwellings, in which,. as yet, nobody but the share- holders dwelt, in bachelor-fashion—had a fresh interest to the cousins, as they cantered about the grassy streets, since it seemed likely.to be connected in some way with the fortunes of one of them. After riding about, and counting the houses, forty or fifty in number, our equestrians conceived the arduous idea of climbing the bluffs above the town for a view of the country on the opposite side of the river. Tying their ponies to some wild plum-trees growing at the bottom of the ascent, they steceeded in reaching the highest point in the vicinity, and getting a panoramic view of miles of country on both sides of So far, all was delightful and satisfactory. But suddenly there was a commotion observable in the main street of the town which laid like a drawing below them—of gentlemen rushing out of unfinished bachelor’s halls, in pursuit of some- thing resembling in the distance a runaway hobby-horse. “ Can that be one of our ponies, I wonder ?” cried Constance, between laughter and alarm. “If it is” said Minnie, “we shall’ have to ‘ride and tie,’ going home.” “ And pray, how is that ?” “Why, you will ride on as far as you think proper; then get off and leaye your horse tied for me when I come up, While you go on until I overtake you.” “Well,” langhed Constance, “if the pony should escape tying like this one, you might have to walk the whole distance after all! But we bad better go and see if we have to prac- ’ tice this mode of retreat.” The girls found, on descending, that it was even as they had surmised—Minnie’s pony having slipped his halter, and taken to flight. Two or three gentlemen, who had probably been Watching their movements, and who had endeavored to cap- ture the runaway, advanced to console them ; glad, perhaps, of ee — comicbooks.com