"We can't go any farther; there's a great tree fallen across the road."
A severe thundergust of the night before had overthrown a hemlock, the trunk of which, partly sustained by the roots and branches, formed a barrier about four feet from the ground. It was impossible to pass through the woods on either side, as they were very dense, and choked with a tangled growth of laurel bushes.
"How very annoying!" said Miss Primrose.
"What shall we do?" inquired Miss Gosling.
"Why, jump over it, to be sure," said Fanny. "Mr. Stubb and I will show you the way."
"You are surely not in earnest!" cried Mrs. Primrose.
"Of course I am. I have taken higher leaps at the riding school, twenty times."
"You had better not," said Morton, who had alighted by the roadside to draw his saddle girth.
"It is too dangerous to be thought of for a single moment," added Mrs. Primrose.
"Our horses," pursued the indiscreet Stubb, "are not used to leaping, and some of the ladies would certainly be hurt."