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this story, as hedging in the outlet of Catskill Creek, gently ascends
from the juncture of the two streams and rolls upward into a broad
and beautiful hill, which again sweeps off toward the mountains and
_ down the margin of the Hudson in a vast plain, at the present day
cut up into highly cultivated farms, and diversificd by little eminen-
ces, groves, and one large tract of swamp-land. Along the south-
ern margin of the creck the hill forms a lofty and picturesque bank,
in some places dropping to the water in a sheer descent of forty or
fifty fect, and in others, sloping down in a more gradual but still
abrupt fall, broken into little ravines, and thickly covered with a fine
growth of young timber. oo
A foot-path winds up from the stone dwelling, which we have
already described, along the upper verge of this bank to the jevel
of the plain, terminating in a singular projection of carth which
shoots out from the face of the bank some fect over the stream,
‘taking the form of*a huge serpent’s head. ‘ This projection com-
mands a fine view of the village, and is known to the inhabitants by
the title of ** Hoppy Nose,”’ from a tradition attached to it. The
foot-path, which terminates at this point, receives_a melancholy. in-
terest from the constant presence of a singular being who has trod it
reguiarly for years. our after hour, and day after day, through .
sunshine and storm, he is to be seen winding among the trecs, or
moving with a slow monotonous walk along this track, where it
~ Verges into the rich sward.' Speechless he has been for many years,
not from inability, but’ from a settled, unbroken habit of silence.
-He is perfectly gentle and inoffensive, and from his quiet bearing
a slight observer might mistake him for a meditative philosopher,
rather than a man slightly and harmlessly insane es a peculiar ex-
pression in his clear, blue eyes and his resolute silence must surely
proclaim him to be. /
But we are describing subsequent things, rather than the scenery
as it existed at the time of our story. ‘Then, the hillside and all the_
broad plain was a forest of heavy timbered land, but the bank of
the creek was much in its present condition. The undergrowth
throve a little more luxuriantly, and the ‘¢ Hoppy Nose’? shot out
from it covered with a thick coating of grass, but shrubless with the
exception of two or three saplings and a few clumps of wild-flowers.
a\s the moon arose on the night after Sarah Jones’ interview with
the Indian woman, that singular being stood upon the ‘ loppy
!
Nose,’? waiting the appearance of young Danforth. More than once |
she went out to the extreme verge of the projection, looked eagerly
—— . .
*y!
| "poppy Nost.”” 95
. CHAPTER XIV. oo
Los u
| Tue point of land, which we have described in the early part of ™
, oh