They went on so very quietly for some time, until Jonas said there was
a turn in the road on before them, where there was a foot-path that led
across a ravine, by a nearer way than the chaise-road, and proposed
that Rollo should ask leave for Jonas and himself to go across on
horseback, and wait for the chaises, when they should come out on the
main road.
So they rode up to the chaise, and Rollo put the question to his uncle
George.
His reply was that he could not say any thing about it; Rollo must go
and ask his father.
“Would you go?” said Jonas.
“Yes,” said Rollo.
“Well, touch up Old Trumpeter then.”
So Rollo applied his switch, and the horse trotted on fast. Rollo had
hard work to hold on, but he clasped his arm tight around Jonas’s
waist, and succeeded in keeping his seat.
Rollo’s father and mother were riding some distance before them, but
they saw Jonas coming up, and rode slowly, that he might overtake them.
“Well, Rollo,” said his father, “how do you like riding double?”
“Very much,” said Rollo; “and we want you to let Jonas and I cut across
by the horse-path through the valley, and wait for you at the mill.”
“Is there a horse-path across here, Jonas?”
“Yes, sir,” said Jonas.
“Is it a good path?”
“It is rather rough, sir, through the woods and bushes; but it is a
pretty good road.”