The keen air made his ears tingle a little, but he rubbed them, and they soon became warm.  His feet were comfortably stowed away down in his box, among the bags and buffalo-skins, so that they were warm and comfortable.

The horses trotted along at good speed, and soon brought Jonas and his load to the village at the mill.  The street was vacant, and the houses dark, excepting that a faint light shone behind a curtain in one chamber window.  Jonas supposed that somebody was sick there.  Even the mill was silent, and the gate shut down; and, instead of the ordinary roar of the water under the wheel, only a hissing sound was heard, where the imprisoned water spouted through the crevices of the flume.  Vast stalactites of ice extended continuously along the whole face of the dam, like a frozen waterfall, behind which the water percolated curiously down into the foaming abyss, at the bottom of the fall.  Jonas thought that all this, seen by starlight, looked very cold.

The horses trotted across the bridge with a loud sound, which reverberated far and wide in the still night.  He ascended the hill beyond, and drove on.  His woollen comforter, tied about his neck, became frosted over from his breath; and the breasts, and mane, and sides, of the horses were gradually sprinkled with white, in the same way.  They were both black horses,—­the General having been left at home.  They trotted down the hills and along the level portions of the road, and wheeled around the curves, with great speed.  Jonas found that he had no occasion for his whip, and so he put it away behind him, under the buffaloes.

He went on in this way, without any special adventure, for a couple of hours, and then began to see a gray light appearing in the eastern sky.  About the same time, the windows of the farm-houses, which he passed on the road, began to be illuminated by the fires, which they were kindling within.  Now and then, he could see a man hurrying out to a barn, to feed the cattle.  Jonas thought that they ought to be up earlier.  The sun rose soon after, and the fields on every side sparkled by the reflection of his rays, from the crystalline surface of the snow.  Tall columns of dense white smoke ascended from the chimneys, some erect, others leaning a little, some one way, some another.  In a word, it was a cold, still, winter morning.

At length, as Jonas was walking his horses up a long hill, he heard light footsteps behind him.  He turned round to see what was coming, and, to his utter astonishment, he saw Franco, coming up, upon the full run, and close behind the sleigh.  He came to the side of it, and looked up, with every appearance of exultation and joy.

“Why, Franco,” said Jonas, “how came you here?”

He stopped his horses, and Franco leaped up before him.  His ears, and the glossy black hair which curled under his neck and upon his sides, were tipped with frost.  Jonas patted him upon his head, saying,—­