The drove began to low at daybreak, and soon
they were all cropping the grass or browsing in the briers. Then
the milking, and breakfast over a camp fire, and soon after sunrise
they were all tramping in the road again.
It was a pleasant journey--the waysides glowing with the blue of
violets, the green of tender grass, the thick-sown, starry gold of
dandelions. Wild fowl crossed the sky in wedge and battalion,
their videttes out, their lines now firm, now wheeling in a long
curve to take the path of the wind. Every thicket was a fount of
song that fell to silence when darkness came and the low chant of
the marshes.
When they came into settled country below the big woods they began
selling. At length the drove was reduced to one section; Trove
following with the helper named Thurston Tilly, familiarly known as
"Thurst."
He was a tall, heavy, good-natured man, distinguished for fat,
happiness, and singular aptitudes. He had lifted a barrel of salt
by the chimes and put it on a wagon; once he had eaten two mince
pies at a meal; again he had put his heel six inches above his head
on a barn door, and, any time, he could wiggle one ear or both or
whistle on his thumb.
Pages:
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77