midnight in June
The horses were on the run . It was _ their _ carriage after all , for nobody else could be in such a hurry . Twenty seconds brought the flying carriage to the corner -- a second 's pause -- a hail from each of the friends -- and Leslie was inside with Harding , and the carriage was dashing up the Bowery about as fast as two good horses could run , with Leslie and Harding each peering out of the opened windows at the side , to see if they could catch any glimpse of a carriage ahead . There is no doubt that the horses attached to the hinder carriage , whatever may have been the opinions of those attached to the one before , -- thought that the rate of speed was a little rapid for a hot midnight in June ; and certainly one or two pedestrians who came near being run over at the crossings just below the Cooper Institute , had an impression that some rebel prisoner must be running away from Fort Lafayette or some government official trying to stop one . As Harding and Leslie neared that highly respectable but very ugly monument to the profits of iron and glue and the public pride of Mr. Peter Cooper , -- of course there arose a question , the carriage being out of sight , which of the two branches it had taken . The Third Avenue being the plainer road , Leslie decided for the Fourth , and with a shout to the driver just before they reached Tompkins Market , the horses ' heads were turned in that direction , and away they went up the comparatively quiet avenue . At the rate they were going they soon overtook a carriage , as they would have overtaken any thing less rapid than a locomotive or a whirlwind .