The people's activities ebbed
manifested
The revel now gradually broke up. The old farmers gathered together
their families in their wagons, and were heard for some time rattling
along the hollow roads and over the distant hills. Some of the damsels
mounted on pillions behind their favorite swains, and their lighthearted
laughter, mingling with the clatter of hoofs, echoed along the silent
woodlands, sounding fainter and fainter until they gradually died away,
and the late scene of noise and frolic was all silent and deserted. Ichabod
only lingered behind, according to the custom of country lovers, to have
a tête-à-tête with the heiress, fully convinced that he was now on the
high road to success.
fluctuated
oscillated