"Grey, Zane - Betty Zane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grey Zane)

strewn with flowers. Courting or "sparking" his sweetheart had a painful as
well as a joyous side. Many and varied were the tricks played on the fortunate
lover by the gallants who had vied with him for the favor of the maid. Brave,
indeed, he who won her. If he marched up to her home in the early evening he
was made the object of innumerable jests, even the young lady's family
indulging in and enjoying the banter. Later, when he come out of the door, it
was more than likely that, if it were winter, he would be met by a volley of
water soaked snowballs, or big buckets of icewater, or a mountain of snow
shoved off the roof by some trickster, who had waited patiently for such an
opportunity. On summer nights his horse would be stolen, led far into the
woods and tied, or the wheels of his wagon would be taken off and hidden,
leaving him to walk home. Usually the successful lover, and especially if he
lived at a distance, would make his way only once a week and then late at
night to the home of his betrothed. Silently, like a thief in the dark, he
would crawl through the grass and shrubs until beneath her window. At a low
signal, prearranged between them, she would slip to the door and let him in
without disturbing the parents. Fearing to make a light, and perhaps welcoming
that excuse to enjoy the darkness beloved by sweethearts, they would sit
quietly, whispering low, until the brightening in the east betokened the break
of day, and then he was off, happy and lighthearted, to his labors.

A wedding was looked forward to with much pleasure by old and young.
Practically, it meant the only gathering of the settlers which was not
accompanied by the work of reaping the harvest, building a cabin, planning an
expedition to relieve some distant settlement, or a defense for themselves.
For all, it meant a rollicking good time; to the old people a feast, and the
looking on at the merriment of their children--to the young folk, a pleasing
break in the monotony of their busy lives, a day given up to fun and gossip, a
day of romance, a wedding, and best of all, a dance. Therefore Alice Reynold's
wedding proved a great event to the inhabitants of Fort Henry.

The day dawned bright and clear. The sun, rising like a ball of red gold, cast
its yellow beams over the bare, brown hills, shining on the cabin roofs white
with frost, and making the delicate weblike coat of ice on the river sparkle
as if it had been sprinkled with powdered diamonds. William Martin, the groom,
and his attendants, met at an appointed time to celebrate an old time-honored
custom which always took place before the party started for the house of the
bride. This performance was called "the race for the bottle."

A number of young men, selected by the groom, were asked to take part in this
race, which was to be run over as rough and dangerous a track as could be
found. The worse the road, the more ditches, bogs, trees, stumps, brush, in
fact, the more obstacles of every kind, the better, as all these afforded
opportunity for daring and expert horsemanship. The English fox race, now
famous on three continents, while it involves risk and is sometimes dangerous,
cannot, in the sense of hazard to life and limb, be compared to this race for
the bottle.

On this day the run was not less exciting than usual. The horses were placed
as nearly abreast as possible and the starter gave an Indian yell. Then