Poets, aided by the general longing of human
nature, have given a reputation to the Spring, that
it rarely merits. Though this imaginative class of
writers have said so much of its balmy airs and
odoriferous gales, we find it nearly everywhere the
most reluctant, churlish, and fickle of the four seasons.
It is the youth of the year, and, like that
probationary period of life, most fitted to afford the
promise of better things. There is a constant struggle
between reality and hope throughout the whole
of this slow-moving and treacherous period, which
has an unavoidable tendency to deceive. All that
is said of its grateful productions is fallacious, for
the earth is as little likely to yield a generous tribute
without the quickening influence of the summer
heats, as man is wont to bring forth commendable
fruits without the agency of a higher moral power
than any he possesses in virtue of his innate propensities.
On the other hand, the fall of the year
possesses a sweetness, a repose, and a consistency,
which may be justly likened to the decline of a
well-spent life. It is, in all countries and in every

[figure description] Page 122.[end figure description]

climate, the period when physical and moral causes
unite to furnish the richest sources of enjoyment.
If the Spring is the time of hope, Autumn is the
season of fruition. There is just enough of change
to give zest to the current of existence, while there
is too little of vicissitude to be pregnant of disappointment.
Succeeding to the nakedness of Winter,
the Spring is grateful by comparison; while the
glories of Autumn are enjoyed, after the genial
powers of Summer have been lavishly expended.

In obedience to this great law of the earth, let
poets sing and fancy as they may, the Spring and
Autumn of America partake largely of the universally
distinctive characters of the rival seasons.
What Nature has done on this Continent, has not
been done niggardly; and, while we may boast of
a decline of the year that certainly rivals, and,
with few exceptions, eclipses the glories of most of
the climates of the old world, the opening months
rarely fail of equalizing the gifts of Providence, by
a very decided exhibition of all the disagreeable
qualities for which they are remarkable.

More than half a year had elapsed, between the
time when the Indian boy had been found lurking
in the valley of the Heathcotes, and that day when
he was first permitted to go into the forest, fettered
by no other restraint than the moral tie which the
owner of the valley either knew, or fancied, would
not fail to cause him to return to a bondage he had
found so irksome. It was April; but it was April
as the month was known a century ago in Connecticut,
and as it is even now so often found to disappoint
all expectations of that capricious season of
the year. The weather had returned suddenly and
violently to the rigor of winter. A thaw had been
succeeded by a storm of snow and sleet, and the interlude
of the spring-time of blossoms had terminated
with a biting gale from the north-west, which

[figure description] Page 123.[end figure description]

had apparently placed a permanent seal on the lingering
presence of a second February.

On the morning that Content led his followers
into the forest, they issued from the postern clad in
coats of skin. Their lower limbs were protected
by the coarse leggings which they had worn in so
many previous hunts, during the past winter, if that
might be called past which had returned, weakened
but little of its keenness, and bearing all the outward
marks of January. When last seen, Eben
Dudley, the heaviest of the band, was moving firmly
on the crust of the snow, with a step as sure as if
he had trodden on the frozen earth itself. More
than one of the maidens declared, that though they
had endeavored to trace the footsteps of the hunters
from the palisadoes, it would have exceeded even
the sagacity of an Indian eye to follow their trail
along the icy path they travelled.

Hour after hour passed, without bringing tidings
from the chase. The reports of fire-arms had indeed
been occasionally heard, ringing among the
arches of the woods; and broken echoes were, for
some hours, rolling from one recess of the hills to
another. But even these signs of the presence of
the hunters gradually receded with the advance of
the day; and, long ere the sun had gained the meridian,
and its warmth, at that advanced season not
without power, was shed into the valley, the whole
range of the adjoining forest lay in its ordinary dull
and solemn silence.

The incident of the hunt, apart from the absence
of the Indian boy, was one of too common occurrence
to give birth to any particular motives of excitement.
Ruth quietly busied herself among her
women, and when the recollection of those who
were scouring the neighboring forest came at all to
her mind, it was coupled with the care with which
she was providing to administer to their comforts,

[figure description] Page 124.[end figure description]

after the fatigue of a day of extraordinary personal
efforts. This was a duty never lightly performed.
Her situation was one eminently fitted to foster the
best affections of woman, since it admitted of few
temptations to yield to other than the most natural
feeling; she was, in consequence, known on all occasions
to exercise them with the devotedness of
her sex.

“Thy father and his companions will look on our
care with pleasure,” said the thoughtful matron to
her youthful image, as she directed a more than
usual provision of her larder to be got in readiness
for the hunters; “home is ever sweetest after toil
and exposure.”

“I doubt if Mark be not ready to faint with so
weary a march,” said the child already introduced
by the name of Martha; “he is young to go into
the woods, with scouters tall as great Dudley.”

“And the heathen,” added the little Ruth, “he is
young too as Mark, though more used to the toil. It
may be, mother, that he will never come to us
more!”

“That would grieve our venerable parent; for
thou knowest, Ruth, that he hath hopes of working
on the mind of the boy, until his savage nature shall
yield to the secret power. But the sun is falling behind
the hill, and the evening is coming in cool as
winter; go to the postern, and look out upon the
fields. I would know if there be any signs of thy
father and his party.”

Though Ruth gave this mandate to her daughter,
she did not the less neglect to exercise her own
faculties in the same grateful office. While the
children went, as they were ordered, to the outer
gate, the matron herself ascended to the lower
apartment of the block, and, from its different loops,
she took a long and anxious survey of the limited
prospect. The shadows of the trees, that lined the

[figure description] Page 125.[end figure description]

western side of the view, were already thrown far
across the broad sheet of frozen snow, and the sudden
chill which succeeded the disappearance of the
sun announced the rapid approach of a night that
promised to support the severe character of the
past day. A freezing wind, which had brought with
it the cold airs of the great lakes, and which had
even triumphed over the more natural influence of
an April sun, had however fallen, leaving a temperature
not unlike that which dwells in the milder
seasons of the year among the glaciers of the upper
Alps.

Ruth was too long accustomed to such forest
scenes, and to such a “lingering of winter in the lap
of May,” to feel, on their account, any additional
uneasiness. But the hour had now arrived when
she had reason to look for the return of the hunters.
With the expectation of seeing their forms issuing
from the forest, came the anxiety which is an unavoidable
attendant of disappointment. The shadows
continued to deepen in the valley, until the gloom
thickened to the darkness of night, without bringing
any tidings from those without.

When a delay, which was unusual in the members
of a family circumstanced like that of the
Wish-Ton-Wish, came to be coupled with various
little observations that had been made during the
day, it was thought that reasons for alarm were beginning,
at each instant, to grow more plausible.
Reports of fire-arms had been heard, at an early
hour, from opposite points in the hills, and in a
manner too distinct to be mistaken for echoes; a
certain proof that the different members of the hunt
had separated in the forest. Under such circumstances,
it was not difficult for the imagination of
a wife and a mother, of a sister, or of her who
secretly confessed a still more tender interest in
some one of the hunters, to conjure to the

[figure description] Page 126.[end figure description]

imagination the numberless dangers to which those who
were engaged in these expeditions were known to
be exposed.

“I doubt that the chase hath drawn them further
from the valley than is fitting for the hour and the
season,” observed Ruth to her maidens, who had
gathered in a group about her, at a point that over-looked
as much of the cleared land around the
buildings, as the darkness would allow; “the gravest
man becomes thoughtless as the unreflecting child,
when led by the eagerness of the pursuit. It is the
duty of older heads to think for those that want experience—
but into what indiscreet complaints are
my fears leading! It may be that my husband is
even now striving to collect his party, in order to
return. Hast any heard his conch sounding the
recall?”

“The woods are still as the day the first echo of
the axe was heard among the trees,” returned Faith.
“I did hear that which sounded like a strain of
brawling Dudley's songs, but it proved to be no more
than the lowing of one of his own oxen. Perchance
the animal misseth some of its master's care.”

“Whittal Ring hath looked to the beasts, and it
may not be that he hath neglected to feed, among
others, the creatures of Dudley. Thy mind is given
to levity, Faith, in the matter of this young man.
It is not seemly that one of thy years and sex should
manifest so great displeasure at the name of a youth,
who is of an honest nature, and of honest habits,
too, though he may appear ungainly to the eye, and
have so little favor with one of thy disposition.”

“I did not fashion the man,” said Faith, biting
her lip, and tossing her head; “nor is it aught to
me whether he be gainly or not. As to my favor,
when he asks it, the man shall not wait long to know
the answer. But is not yon figure the fellow himself,
Madam Heathcote?—here, coming in from the

[figure description] Page 127.[end figure description]

eastern hill, along the orchard path. The form I
mean is just here; you may see it, at this moment,
turning by the bend in the brook.”

“There is one of a certainty, and it should be
one of our hunting party, too; and yet he doth not
seem to be of a size or of a gait like that of Eben
Dudley. Thou shouldst have a knowledge of thy
kindred, girl; to me it seemeth thy brother.”

“Truly, it may be Reuben Ring; still it hath
much of the swagger of the other, though their
stature be nearly equal—the manner of carrying
the musket is much the same with all the borderers
too—one cannot easily tell the form of man from a
stump by this light—and—yet do I think it will
prove to be the loitering Dudley.”

“Loiterer or not, he is the first to return from
this long and weary chase,” said Ruth, breathing
heavily, like one who regretted that the truth were
so. “Go thou to the postern, and admit him, girl. I
ordered bolts to be drawn, for I like not to leave a
fortress defended by a female garrison, at this hour,
with open gates. I will hie to the dwelling, and see
to the comforts of those who are a-hungered, since
it will not be long ere we shall have more of them
at hand.”

Faith complied, with affected indifference and
sufficient delay. By the time she had reached the
place of admission, a form was seen ascending the
acclivity, and taking the direction which led to the
same spot. In the next minute, a rude effort to enter
announced an arrival without.

“Gently, Master Dudley,” said the wilful girl,
who held the bolt with one hand, though she maliciously
delayed to remove it. “We know thou
art powerful of arm, and yet the palisadoes will
scarcely fall at thy touch. Here are no Sampsons
to pull down the pillars on our heads. Perhaps we

[figure description] Page 128.[end figure description]

may not be disposed to give entrance to them who
stay abroad out of all season.”

“Open the postern, girl,” said Eben Dudley;
“after which, if thou hast aught to say, we shall
be better convenienced for discourse.”

“It may be that thy conversation is most agreeable
when heard from without. Render an account
of thy backslidings, throughout this day, penitent
Dudley, that I may take pity on thy weariness. But
lest hunger should have overcome thy memory, I
may serve to help thee to the particulars. The
first of thy offences was to consume more than thy
portion of the cold meats; the second was to suffer
Reuben Ring to kill the deer, and for thee to claim
it; and a third was the trick thou hast of listening
so much to thine own voice, that even the beasts
fled thee, from dislike of thy noise.”

“Thou triflest unseasonably, Faith; I would
speak with the Captain, without delay.”

“It may be that he is better employed than to
desire such company. Thou art not the only strange
animal by many who hath roared at the gate of
Wish-Ton-Wish.”

“Have any come within the day, Faith?” demanded
the borderer, with the interest such an
event would be likely to create in the mind of one
who habitually lived in so great retirement.

“What sayest thou to a second visit from the
gentle-spoken stranger? he who favored us with so
much gay discourse, the by-gone fall of the year.
That would be a guest fit to receive! I warrant me
his knock would not be heard a second time.”

“The gallant had better beware the moon!” exclaimed
Dudley, striking the but of his musket
against the ice with so much force as to cause his
companion to start, in alarm. “What fool's errand
hath again brought him to prick his nag so deep
into the forest?”

[figure description] Page 129.[end figure description]

“Nay, thy wit is ever like the unbroken colt, a
headstrong run-away. I said not, in full meaning.
that the man had come; I only invited thee to give
an opinion in the event that he should arrive unexpectedly,
though I am far from certain that any
here ever expect to see his face again.”

“This is foolish prating,” returned the youth,
provoked at the exhibition of jealousy into which
he had been incautiously betrayed. “I tell thee to
withdraw the bolt, for I have great need to speak
with the Captain, or with his son.”

“Thou mayst open thy mind to the first, if he
will listen to what thou hast to say,” returned the
girl, removing the impediment to his entrance;
“but thou wilt sooner get the ear of the other by
remaining at the gate, since he has not yet come in
from the forest.”

Dudley recoiled a pace, and repeated her words
in the tone of one who admitted a feeling of alarm
to mingle with his surprise.

“Not in from the forest!” he said; “surely there
are none abroad, now that I am home!”

“Why dost say it? I have put my jibes upon
thee more in payment of ancient transgressions
than for any present offence. So far from being
last, thou art the first of the hunters we have yet
seen. Go in to the Madam without delay, and tell
her of the danger, if any there be, that we take
speedy measures for our safety.”

“That would do little good, truly,” muttered the
borderer, like one musing. “Stay thou here, and
watch the postern, Faith; I will back to the woods;
for a timely word, or a signal blown from my conch,
might quicken their footsteps.”

What madness hath beset thee, Dudley! Thou
wouldst not go into the forest again, at this hour
and alone, if there be reason for fear! Come farther
within the gate, man, that I may draw the bolt;

[figure description] Page 130.[end figure description]

the Madam will wonder that we tarry here so
long.”

“Ha!—I hear feet moving in the meadow; I
know it by the creaking of the snow; the others
are not lagging.”

Notwithstanding the apparent certainty of the
young man, instead of going forth to meet his friends,
he withdrew a step, and with his own hand drew
the bolt that Faith had just desired might be fastened;
taking care at the same time to let fall a
swinging bar of wood, which gave additional security
to the fastenings of the postern. His apprehensions,
if any such had induced this caution, were
however unnecessary; for ere he had time to make,
or even to reflect on any further movement, admission
was demanded in the well-known voice of the
son of him who owned the valley. The bustle of
the arrival, for with Content entered a group of
companions loaded with venison, put an end to the
dialogue. Faith seized the opportunity to glide
away in the obscurity, in order to announce to her
mistress that the hunters had returned—an office
that she performed without entering at all into the
particulars of her own interview with Eben Dudley.

It is needless to dwell on the satisfaction with
which Ruth received her husband and son, after
the uneasiness she had just suffered. Though the
severe manners of the Province admitted of no violent
exhibition of passing emotions, secret joy was
reigning in the mild eyes and glowing about the
flushed cheeks of the discreet matron, while she
personally officiated in the offices of the evening
meal.

The party had returned teeming with no extra-ordinary
incidents; nor did they appear to be disturbed
with any of that seriousness of air which
had so unequivocally characterized the deportment
of him who had preceded them. On the contrary,

[figure description] Page 131.[end figure description]

each had his quiet tale to relate, now perhaps at
the expense of a luckless companion, and sometimes
in order that no part of his own individual skill, as
a hunter, should be unknown. The delay was accounted
for, as similar delays are commonly explained,
by distance and the temptations of an unusually
successful chase. As the appetites of those
who had passed the day in the exciting toil were
keen and the viands tempting, the first half-hour
passed quickly, as all such half-hours are wont to
pass, in garrulous recitals of personal exploits, and
of the hairbreadth escapes of deer, which, had
fortune not been fickle, should have now been
present as trophies of the skill of the hand by
which they fell. It was only after personal vanity
was sufficiently appeased, and when the hunger even
of a border-man could achieve no more, that the
hunters began to look about them with a diminished
excitement, and to discuss the events of the day
with a fitting calmness, and with a discretion more
suited to their ordinary self-command.

“We lost the sound of thy conch, wandering
Dudley, as we fell into the deep hollow of the
mountain,” said Content, in a pause of the discourse;
“since which time, neither eye nor ear of any has
had trace of thy movements, until we met thee at
the postern, stationed like a looker-out on his watch.”

The individual addressed had mingled in none
of the gaiety of the hour. While others fed freely,
or joined in the quiet joke, which could escape the
lips of even men chastened as his companions, Eben,
Dudley had tasted sparingly of the viands. Nor had
the muscles of his hard countenance once relaxed
in a smile. A gravity and silence so extraordinary,
in one so little accustomed to exhibit either quality,
did not fail to attract attention. It was universally
ascribed to the circumstance that he had returned
empty-handed from the hunt; and now that one

[figure description] Page 132.[end figure description]

having authority had seen fit to give such a direction
to the discourse, the imaginary delinquent was
not permitted to escape unscathed.

“The butcher had little to do with this day's
killing,” said one of the young men; “as a punishment
for his absence from the slaughter, he should
be made to go on the hill and bring in the two bucks
he will find hanging from a maple sapling near to
the drinking spring. Our meat should pass through
his hands in some fashion or other, else will it lack
savor.”

“Ever since the death of the straggling wether,
the trade of Eben hath been at a stand,” added
another; “the down-hearted youth seems like one
ready to give up his calling to the first stranger
that shall ask it.”

“Creatures which run at large prove better
mutton than the stalled wether,” continued a third;
“and thereby custom was getting low before this
hunt. Beyond a doubt, he has a full supply for all
who shall be likely to seek venison in his stall.”

Ruth observed that the countenance of her husband
grew grave, at these allusions to an event he
had always seemed to wish forgotten; and she interposed
with a view to lead the minds of those who
listened, back to matter more fitting to be discussed.

“How is this?” she exclaimed in haste; “hath
the stout Dudley lost any of his craft? I have never
counted with greater certainty on the riches of the
table, than when he hath been sent among the hills
for the fat deer, or the tender turkey. It would
much grieve me to learn that he beginneth to lack
the hunter's skill.”

“The man is getting melancholy with over-feeding,”
muttered the wilful tones of one busied among
the vessels, in a distant part of the room. “He
taketh his exercise alone, in order that none need

[figure description] Page 133.[end figure description]

discover the failing. I think he be much disposed to
go over sea, in order to become a trooper.”

Until now, the subject of these mirthful attacks
had listened like one too confident of his established
reputation to feel concern; but at the sound of the
last speaker's voice, he grasped the bushy covering
of one entire cheek in his hand, and turning a reproachful
and irritated glance at the already half-repentant
eye of Faith Ring, all his natural spirit
returned.

“It may be that my skill hath left me,” he said,
“and that I love to be alone, rather than to be
troubled with the company of some that might
readily be named, no reference being had to such
gallants as ride up and down the colony, putting
evil opinions into the thoughts of honest men's
daughters; but why is Eben Dudley to bear all the
small shot of your humors, when there is another
who, it might seem, hath strayed even further from
your trail than he?”

Eye sought eye, and each youth by hasty glances
endeavored to read the countenances of all the
rest in company, in order to learn who the absentee
might be. The young borderers shook their heads, as
the features of every well-known face were recognised,
and a general exclamation of denial was
about to break from their lips, when Ruth exclaimed—

“Truly, the Indian is wanting!”

So constant was the apprehension of danger from
the savages, in the breasts of those who dwelt on
that exposed frontier, that every man arose at the
words, by a sudden and common impulse, and each
individual gazed about him in a surprise that was a
little akin to dismay.

“The boy was with us when we quitted the forest,”
said Content, after a moment of death-like
stillness. “I spoke to him in commendation of his

[figure description] Page 134.[end figure description]

activity, and of the knowledge he had shown in
beating up the secret places of the deer; though
there is little reason to think my words were understood.”

“And were it not sinful to take such solemn evidence
in behalf of so light a matter, I could be qualified
on the Book itself, that he was at my elbow as
we entered the orchard,” added Reuben Ring, a
man renowned in that little community for the accuracy
of his vision.

“And I will make oath or declaration of any sort,
lawful or conscientious, that he came not within the
postern when it was opened by my own hand,” returned
Eben Dudley. “I told off the number of the
party as you passed, and right sure am I that no red
skin entered.”

“Canst thou tell us aught of the lad?” demanded
Ruth, quick to take the alarm on a subject that had
so long exercised her care, and given food to her
imagination.

“Nothing. With me he hath not been since the
turn of the day. I have not seen the face of living
man from that moment, unless in truth one of mysterious
character, whom I met in the forest, may
be so called.”

The manner in which the woodsman spoke was
too serious and too natural, not to give birth in his
auditors to some of his own gravity. Perhaps the
appearance of the Puritan, at that moment, aided
in quieting the levity that had been uppermost in
the minds of the young men; for, it is certain, that
when he entered, a deeper and a general curiosity
came over the countenances of all present. Content
waited a moment in respectful silence, till his father
had moved slowly through the circle, and then he
prepared himself to look further into an affair that
began to assume the appearance of matter worthy
of investigation.

CHAPTER IX.

[figure description] Page 135.[end figure description]

It is our duty, as faithful historians of the events
recorded in this homely legend, to conceal no circumstance
which may throw the necessary degree
of light on its incidents, nor any opinion that may
serve for the better instruction of the reader in the
characters of its actors. In order that this obligation
may be discharged with sufficient clearness and
precision, it has now become necessary to make a
short digression from the immediate action of the
tale.

Enough has been already shown, to prove that
the Heathcotes lived at a time, and in a country,
where very quaint and peculiar religious dogmas
had the ascendancy. At a period when visible manifestations
of the goodness of Providence, not only
in spiritual but in temporal gifts, were confidently
expected and openly proclaimed, it is not at all surprising
that more evil agencies should be thought
to exercise their power in a manner that is somewhat
opposed to the experience of our own age. As
we have no wish, however, to make these pages the
medium of a theological or metaphysical controversy,
we shall deal tenderly with certain important events,
that most of the writers, who were cotemporary
with the facts, assert took place in the Colonies of
New-England, at and about the period of which we
are now writing. It is sufficiently known that the

[figure description] Page 136.[end figure description]

art of witchcraft, and one even still more diabolical
and direct in its origin, were then believed to flourish,
in that quarter of the world, to a degree that
was probably in a very just proportion to the neglect
with which most of the other arts of life were
treated.

There is so much grave and respectable authority,
to prove the existence of these evil influences,
that it requires a pen hardier than any we wield,
to attack them without a suitable motive. “Flashy
people,” says the learned and pious Cotton Mather,
Doctor of Divinity and Fellow of the Royal Society,
“may burlesque these things; but when hundreds
of the most sober people, in a country where they
have as much mother wit, certainly, as the rest of
mankind, know them to be true, nothing but the absurd
and froward spirit of Sadducism can question them.”
Against this grave and credited authority, we pretend
to raise no question of scepticism. We submit
to the testimony of such a writer as conclusive,
though as credulity is sometimes found to be bounded
by geographical limits, and to possess something of a
national character, it may be prudent to refer certain
readers, who dwell in the other hemisphere,
to the Common Law of England, on this interesting
subject, as it is ingeniously expounded by Keeble
and approved by the twelve judges of that highly
civilized and enlightened island. With this brief
reference to so grave authorities, in support of what
we have now to offer, we shall return to the matter
of the narrative, fully trusting that its incidents
will throw some additional light on the subject of so
deep and so general concern.

Content waited respectfully until his father had
taken his seat, and then perceiving that the venerable
Puritan had no immediate intention of moving
personally in the affair, he commenced the examination
of his dependant as follows; opening the

[figure description] Page 137.[end figure description]

matter with a seriousness that was abundantly warranted
by the gravity of the subject itself.

“Thou hast spoken of one met in the forest,” he
said; “proceed with the purport of that interview,
and tell us of what manner of man it was.”

Thus directly interrogated, Eben Dudley disposed
himself to give a full and satisfactory answer. First
casting a glance around, so as to embrace every
curious and eager countenance, and letting his look
rest a little longer than common on a half-interested,
half-incredulous, and a somewhat ironical dark eye,
that was riveted on his own from a distant corner
of the room, he commenced his statement as follows:

“It is known to you all,” said the borderer, “that
when we had gained the mountain-top, there was a
division of our numbers, in such a fashion that each
hunter should sweep his own range of the forest, in
order that neither moose, deer, nor bear, might have
reasonable chance of escape. Being of large frame,
and it may be of swifter foot than common, the
young Captain saw fit to command Reuben Ring to
flank one end of the line, and a man, who is nothing
short of him in either speed, or strength, to do the
same duty on the other. There was nothing particularly
worthy of mention that took place on the
flank I held, for the first two hours; unless indeed
the fact, that three several times did I fall upon a
maze of well-beaten deer-tracks, that as often led
to nothing—”

“These are signs common to the woods, and they
are no more than so many proofs that the animal
has its sports, like any other playful creature, when
not pressed by hunger or by danger,” quietly observed
Content.

“I pretend not to take those deceitful tracks
much into the account,” resumed Dudley; “but
shortly after losing the sound of the conchs, I

[figure description] Page 138.[end figure description]

roused a noble buck from his lair beneath a thicket
of hemlocks, and having the game in view, the
chase led me wide-off towards the wilderness, it may
have been the distance of two leagues.”

“And in all that time, had you no fitting moment
to strike the beast?”

“None whatever; nor, if opportunity had been
given, am I bold to say that hand of mine would
have been hardy enough to aim at its life.”

“Was there aught in the deer, that a hunter
should seek to spare it?”

“There was that in the deer, that might bring a
Christian man to much serious reflection.”

“Deal more openly with the nature and appearance
of the animal,” said Content, a little less tranquil
than usual; while the youths and maidens
placed themselves in attitudes still more strongly
denoting attention.

Dudley pondered an instant, and then he commenced
a less equivocal enumeration of what he
conceived to be the marvels of his tale.

“Firstly,” he said, “there was no trail, neither
to nor from the spot where the creature had made
its lair; secondly, when roused, it took not the
alarm, but leaped sportingly ahead, taking sufficient
care to be beyond the range of musket, without
ever becoming hid from the eye; and lastly its
manner of disappearance was as worthy of mention
as any other of its movements.”

“And in what manner didst thou lose the creature?”

“I had gotten it upon the crest of a hillock,
where true eye and steady hand might make sure
of a buck of much smaller size, when—didst hear
aught that might be accounted wonderful, at a
season of the year when the snows are still lying on
the earth?”

The auditors regarded one another curiously, each

[figure description] Page 139.[end figure description]

endeavoring to recall some unwonted sound which
might sustain a narrative that was fast obtaining
the seducing interest of the marvellous.

“Wast sure, Charity, that the howl we heard
from the forest was the yell of the beaten hound?”
demanded a handmaiden of Ruth, of a blue-eyed
companion, who seemed equally well disposed to
contribute her share of evidence in support of any
exciting legend.

“It might have been other,” was the answer;
“though the hunters do speak of their having beaten
the pup for restiveness.”

“There was a tumult among the echoes, that
sounded like the noises which follow the uproar of
a falling tree,” said Ruth, thoughtfully. “I remember
to have asked if it might not be that some
fierce beast had caused a general discharge of the
musketry, but my father was of opinion that death
had undermined some heavy oak.”

“At what hour might this have happened?”

“It was past the turn of the day; for it was at
the moment I bethought me of the hunger of those
who had toiled since light, in the hills.”

“That then was the sound I mean. It came not
from falling tree, but was uttered in the air, far
above all forests. Had it been heard by one better
skilled in the secrets of nature—”

“He would say it thundered;” interrupted Faith
Ring, who, unlike most of the other listeners, manifested
little of the quality which was expressed
by her name. “Truly, Eben Dudley hath done
marvels in this hunt; he hath come in with a thunderbolt
in his head, instead of a fat buck on his
shoulders!”

“Speak reverently, girl, of that thou dost not
comprehend,” said Mark Heathcote, with stern authority.
“Marvels are manifested equally to the
ignorant and to the learned; and although

[figure description] Page 140.[end figure description]

vainminded pretenders to philosophy affirm, that the
warring of the elements is no more than nature
working out its own purification, yet do we know,
from all ancient authorities, that other manifestations
are therein exhibited. Satan may have control
over the magazines of the air; he can `let off
the ordnance of Heaven.' That `the Prince of the
Powers of Darkness hath as good a share in chemistry
as goes to the making of Aurum Fulminans,'
is asserted by one of the wisest writers of our age.”

From this declaration, and more particularly from
the learning discovered in the Puritan's speech,
there was no one so hardy as to dissent. Faith was
glad to shrink back among the bevy of awe-struck
maidens; while Content, after a sufficiently respectful
pause, invited the woodsman, who was yet
teeming with the most important part of his communication,
to proceed.

“While my eye was searching for the lightning,
which should in reason have attended that thunder,
had it been uttered in the manner of nature,
the buck had vanished; and when I rushed upon
the hillock, in order to keep the game in view, a
man mounting its opposite side came so suddenly
upon me, that our muskets were at each other's
breasts before either had time for speech.”

“What manner of man was he?”

“So far as human judgment might determine, he
seemed a traveller, who was endeavoring to push
through the wilderness, from the towns below to
the distant settlements of the Bay Province; but I
account it exceeding wonderful, that the trail of a
leaping buck should have brought us together in so
unwonted a manner!”

“And didst thou see aught of the deer, after that
encounter?”

“In the first hurry of the surprise, it did certainly
appear as if an animal were bounding along the

[figure description] Page 141.[end figure description]

wood into a distant thicket; but it is known how
readily one may be led by seeming probabilities
into a false conclusion, and so I account that glimpse
as delusion. No doubt, the animal, having done
that which it was commissioned to perform, did then
and there disappear, in the manner I have named.”

“It might have been thus. And the stranger—
had you discourse with him, before parting?”

“We tarried together a short hour. He related
much marvellous matter of the experiences of the
people, near the sea. According to the testimony
of the stranger, the Powers of Darkness have been
manifested in the Provinces in a hideous fashion.
Numberless of the believers have been persecuted
by the invisibles, and greatly have they endured
suffering, both in soul and body.”

“Of all this have I witnessed surprising instances,
in my day,” said Mark Heathcote, breaking the
awful stillness that succeeded the annunciation of
so heavy a visitation on the peace of the Colony,
with his deep-toned and imposing voice. “Did he,
with whom you conferred, enter into the particulars
of the trials?”

“He spoke also of certain other signs that are
thought to foretell the coming of trouble. When I
named the weary chase that I had made, and the
sound which came from the air, he said that these
would be accounted trifles in the towns of the Bay,
where the thunder and its lightnings had done much
evil work, the past season; Satan having especially
shown his spite, by causing them to do injury to the
houses of the Lord.”

“There has long been reason to think that the
pilgrimage of the righteous, into these wilds, will
be visited by some fierce opposition of those envious
natures, which, fostering evil themselves, cannot
brook to look upon the toiling of such as strive to
keep the narrow path. We will now resort to the

[figure description] Page 142.[end figure description]

only weapon it is permitted us to wield in this controversy,
but which, when handled with diligence
and zeal, never fails to lead to victory.”

So saying, without waiting to hear more of the
tale of Eben Dudley, old Mark Heathcote arose,
and assuming the upright attitude usual among the
people of his sect, he addressed himself to prayer.
The grave and awe-struck but deeply confiding
congregation imitated his example, and the lips of
the Puritan had parted in the act of utterance,
when a low, faltering note, like that produced by a
wind instrument, rose on the outer air, and penetrated
to the place where the family was assembled.
A conch was suspended at the postern, in readiness
to be used by any of the family whom accident or
occupation should detain beyond the usual hour of
closing the gates; and both by the direction and
nature of this interruption, it would seem that an
applicant for admission stood at the portal. The effect
on the auditors was general and instantaneous.
Notwithstanding the recent dialogue, the young men
involuntarily sought their arms, while the startled
females huddled together like a flock of trembling
and timid deer.

“There is, of a certainty, a signal from without!”
Content at length observed, after waiting to suffer
the sounds to die away among the angles of the
buildings. “Some hunter, who hath strayed from
his path, claimeth hospitality.”

Eben Dudley shook his head like one who dissented,
but, having with all the other youths grasped
his musket, he stood as undetermined as the rest
concerning the course it was proper to pursue. It
is uncertain how long this indecision might have
continued, had no further summons been given; but
he without appeared too impatient of delay to suffer
much time to be lost. The conch sounded again,
and with far better success than before. The blast

[figure description] Page 143.[end figure description]

was longer, louder, and bolder, than that which had
first pierced the walls of the dwelling, rising full
and rich on the air, as though one well practised in
the use of the instrument had placed lips to the
shell.

Content would scarcely have presumed to disobey
a mandate coming from his father, had it been little
in conformity with his own intentions. But second
thoughts had already shown him the necessity of
decision, and he was in the act of motioning to
Dudley and Reuben Ring to follow, when the Puritan
bade him look to the matter. Making a sign
for the rest of the family to remain where they
were, and arming himself with a musket which had
more than once that day been proved to be of certain
aim, he led the way to the postern which has
already been so often mentioned.

“Who sounds at my gate?” demanded Content,
when he and his followers had gained a position,
under cover of a low earthen mound erected expressly
for the purpose of commanding the entrance;
“who summons a peaceful family at this hour of
the night, to their outer defences?”

“One who hath need of what he asketh, or he
would not disturb thy quiet,” was the answer.
“Open the postern, Master Heathcote, without fear;
it is a brother in the faith, and a subject of the
same laws, that asketh the boon.”

“Here is truly a Christian man without,” said
Content, hurrying to the postern; which, without a
moment's delay, he threw freely open, saying as he
did so, “enter of Heaven's mercy, and be welcome
to that we have to bestow.”

A tall, and, by his tread, a heavy man, wrapped
in a riding-cloak, bowed to the greeting, and immediately
passed beneath the low lintel. Every
eye was keenly fastened on the stranger, who, after
ascending the acclivity a short distance, paused,

[figure description] Page 144.[end figure description]

while the young men, under their master's orders,
carefully and scrupulously renewed the fastenings of
the gate. When bolts and bars had done their office,
Content joined his guest; and after making another
fruitless effort, by the feeble light which fell from
the stars, to scan his person, he said, in his own
meek and quiet manner—

“Thou must have great need of warmth and
nourishment. The distance from this valley to the
nearest habitation is wearisome, and one who hath
journeyed it, in a season like this, may well be nigh
fainting. Follow, and deal with that we have to
bestow as freely as if it were thine own.”

Although the stranger manifested none of that
impatience which the heir of the Wish-Ton-Wish
appeared to think one so situated might in all reason
feel, thus invited he did not hesitate to comply.
As he followed in the footsteps of his host, his tread,
however, was leisurely and dignified; and once or
twice, when the other half delayed in order to
make some passing observation of courtesy, he betrayed
no indiscreet anxiety to enter on those personal
indulgences which might in reality prove so
grateful to one who had journeyed far in an inclement
season, and along a road where neither
dwelling nor security invited repose.

“Here is warmth and a peaceful welcome,” pursued
Content, ushering his guest into the centre of
a group of fearfully anxious faces. “In a little time,
other matters shall be added to thy comfort.”

When the stranger found himself under the glare
of a powerful light, and confronted to so many
curious and wondering eyes, for a single instant he
hesitated. Then stepping calmly forward, he cast
the short riding-cloak, which had closely muffled
his features, from his shoulders, and discovered the
severe eye, the stern lineaments, and the athletic
form of him who had once before been known to

[figure description] Page 145.[end figure description]

enter the doors of Wish-Ton-Wish with little warning,
and to have quitted them so mysteriously.

The Puritan had arisen, with quiet and grave
courtesy, to receive his visiter; but obvious, powerful,
and extraordinary interest gleamed about his
usually subdued visage, when, as the features of
the other were exposed to view, he recognised the
person of the man who advanced to meet him.

“Mark Heathcote,” said the stranger, “my visit
is to thee. It may, or it may not, prove longer than
the last, as thou shalt receive my tidings. Affairs
of the last moment demand that there should be
little delay in hearing that which I have to offer.”

Notwithstanding the excess and nature of the
surprise which the veteran Mark had certainly betrayed,
it endured just long enough to allow those
wondering eyes, which were eagerly devouring all
that passed, to note its existence. Then, the subdued
and characteristic manner, which in general
marked his air, instantly returned, and with a quiet
gesture, like that which friends use in moments of
confidence and security, he beckoned to the other
to follow to an inner room. The stranger complied,
making a slight bow of recognition to Ruth, as he
passed her on the way to the apartment chosen for
an interview that was evidently intended to be
private.

CHAPTER X.

[figure description] Page 146.[end figure description]

The time that this unexpected visiter stood uncloaked
and exposed to recognition, before the eyes
of the curious group in the outer room, did not much
exceed a minute. Still it was long enough to allow
men who rarely overlooked the smallest peculiarity
of dress or air, to note some of the more distinguishing
accompaniments of his attire. The heavy horseman's
pistols, once before exhibited, were in his
girdle, and young Mark got a glimpse of a silver-handled
dagger which had pleased his eye before
that night. But the passage of his grandfather and
the stranger from the room prevented the boy from
determining whether it was entirely of the same
fashion as that, which, rather as a memorial of by-gone
scenes than for any service that it might now
be expected to perform, hung above the bed of the
former.

“The man hath not yet parted with his arms!”
exclaimed the quick-sighted youth, when he found
that every other tongue continued silent. “I would
he may now leave them with my grand'ther, that
I may chase the skulking Wampanoag to his hiding—”

“Hot-headed boy! Thy tongue is too much given
to levity,” said Ruth, who had not only resumed her
seat, but the light employment that had been interrupted
by the blast at the gate, with a calmness of

[figure description] Page 147.[end figure description]

mien that did not fail in some degree to reassure
her maidens. “Instead of cherishing the lessons of
peace that are taught thee, thy unruly thoughts
are ever bent on strife.”

“Is there harm in wishing to be armed with a
weapon suited to my years, that I may do service
in beating down the power of our enemies; and perhaps
aid something, too, in affording security to my
mother?”

“Thy mother hath no fears,” returned the matron
gravely, while grateful affection prompted a
kind but furtive glance towards the high-spirited
though sometimes froward lad. “Reason hath already
taught me the folly of alarm, because one
has knocked at our gate in the night-season. Lay
aside thy arms, men; you see that my husband no
longer clings to the musket. Be certain that his eye
will give us warning, when there shall be danger at
hand.”

The unconcern of her husband was even more
strikingly true, than the simple language of his wife
would appear to convey. Content had not only laid
aside his weapon, but he had resumed his seat near
the fire, with an air as calm, as assured, and it might
have seemed to one watchfully observant, as understanding,
as her own. Until now, the stout Dudley
had remained leaning on his piece, immovable and
apparently unconscious as a statue. But, following
the injunctions of one he was accustomed to obey,
he placed the musket against the wall, with the care
of a hunter, and then running a hand through his
shaggy locks, as though the action might quicken
ideas that were never remarkably active, he bluntly
exclaimed—

“An armed hand is well in these forests, but an
armed heel is not less wanting to him who would
push a roadster from the Connecticut to the Wish-Ton-Wish,
between a rising and a setting sun! The

[figure description] Page 148.[end figure description]

stranger no longer journeys in the saddle, as is plain
by the sign that his boot beareth no spur. When he
worried, by dint of hard pricking, the miserable
hack that proved food for the wolves, through
the forest, he had better appointments. I saw the
bones of the animal no later than this day. They
have been polished by fowls and frost, till the driven
snow of the mountains is not whiter!”

Meaning and uneasy, but hasty glances of the eye
were exchanged between Content and Ruth, as Eben
Dudley thus uttered the thoughts which had been
suggested by the unexpected return of the stranger.

“Go you to the look-out at the western palisadoes,”
said the latter; “and see if perchance the
Indian may not be lurking near the dwellings,
ashamed of his delay, and perchance fearful of calling
us to his admission. I cannot think that the child
means to desert us, with no sign of kindness, and
without leave-taking.”

“I will not take upon me to say, how much
or how little of ceremony the youngster may fancy
to be due to the master of the valley and his kin;
but if not gone already, the snow will not melt more
quietly in the thaw, than the lad will one day disappear.
Reuben Ring, thou hast an eye for light
or darkness; come forth with me, that no sign escape
us. Should thy sister, Faith, make one of our
party, it would not be easy for the red-skin to pass
the clearing without a hail.”

“Go to,” hurriedly answered the female; “it is
more womanly that I tarry to see to the wants of him
who hath journeyed far and hard, since the rising
of the sun. If the boy pass thy vigilance, wakeful
Dudley, he will have little cause to fear that of
others.”

Though Faith so decidedly declined to make one
of the party, her brother complied without reluctance.
The young men were about to quit the place

[figure description] Page 149.[end figure description]

together; when the latch, on which the hand of
Dudley was already laid, rose quietly without aid
from his finger, the door opened, and the object of
their intended search glided past them, and took his
customary position in one of the more retired corners
of the room. There was so much of the ordinary,
noiseless manner of the young captive in this
entrance, that for a moment they who witnessed the
passage of his dark form across the apartment, were
led to think the movement no more than the visit
he was always permitted to make at that hour. But
recollection soon came, and with it not only the suspicious
circumstance of his disappearance, but the
inexplicable manner of his admission within the
gates.

“The pickets must be looked to!” exclaimed
Dudley, the instant a second look assured him that
his eyes in truth beheld him who had been missing.
“The place that a stripling can scale, might well
admit a host.”

“Truly,” said Content, “this needeth explanation.
Hath not the boy entered when the gate was
opened for the stranger?—Here cometh one that
may speak to the fact!”

“It is so,” said the individual named, who re-entered
from the inner room in season to hear the nature
of the remark. “I found this native child near
thy gate, and took upon me the office of a Christian
man to bid him welcome. Certain am I, that one,
kind of heart and gently disposed, like the mistress
of this family, will not turn him away in anger.”

“He is no stranger at our fire, or at our board,”
said Ruth; “had it been otherwise, thou wouldst
have done well.”

Eben Dudley looked incredulous. His mind had
been powerfully exercised that day with visions of
the marvellous, and, of a certainty, there was some

[figure description] Page 150.[end figure description]

reason to distrust the manner in which the re-appearance
of the youth had been made.

“It will be well to look to the fastenings,” he
muttered, “lest others, less easy to dispose of, should
follow. Now that invisible agencies are at work in
the Colony, one may not sleep too soundly!”

“Then go thou to the look-out, and keep the
watch, till the clock shall strike the hour of midnight;”
said the Puritan, who uttered the command
in a manner to show that he was in truth moved
by considerations far deeper than the vague apprehensions
of his dependant. “Ere sleep overcome
thee, another shall be ready for the relief.”

Mark Heathcote seldom spoke, but respectful
silence permitted the lowest of his syllables to be
audible. On the present occasion, when his voice
was first heard, such a stillness came over all in
presence, that he finished the sentence amid the
nearly imperceptible breathings of the listeners.
In this momentary but death-like quiet, there arose
a blast from the conch at the gate, that might have
seemed an echo of that which had so lately startled
the already-excited inmates of the dwelling. At the
repetition of sounds so unwonted, all sprang to their
feet, but no one spoke. Content cast a hurried and
inquiring glance at his father, who in his turn had
anxiously sought the eye of the stranger. The latter
stood firm and unmoved. One hand was clenched
upon the back of the chair from which he had
arisen, and the other grasped, perhaps unconsciously,
the handle of one of those weapons which had attracted
the attention of young Mark, and which
still continued thrust through the broad leathern
belt that girded his doublet.

“The sound is like that, which one little used to
deal with earthly instruments might raise!” muttered
one of those whose mind had been prepared,

[figure description] Page 151.[end figure description]

by the narrative of Dudley, to believe in any thing
marvellous.

“Come from what quarter it may, it is a summons
that must be answered;” returned Content.
“Dudley, thy musket; this visit is so unwonted,
that more than one hand should do the office of
porter.”

The borderer instantly complied, muttering between
his teeth as he shook the priming deeper into
the barrel of his piece, “Your over-sea gallants are
quick on the trial to-night!” Then throwing the
musket into the hollow of his arm, he cast a look
of discontent and resentment towards Faith Ring,
and was about to open the door for the passage of
Content, when another blast arose on the silence
without. The second touch of the shell was firmer,
longer, louder, and more true, than that by which
it had just been preceded.

“One might fancy the conch was speaking in
mockery,” observed Content, looking with meaning
towards their guest. “Never did sound more resemble
sound than these we have just heard, and
those thou drew from the shell when asking admission.”

A sudden light appeared to break in upon the
intelligence of the stranger. Advancing more into
the circle, rather with the freedom of long familiarity
than with the diffidence of a newly-arrived
guest, he motioned for silence as he said—

“Let none move, but this stout woodsman, the
young captain and myself. We will go forth, and
doubt not that the safety of those within shall be
regarded.”

Notwithstanding the singularity of this proposal,
as it appeared to excite neither surprise nor opposition
in the Puritan or his son, the rest of the family
offered no objection. The stranger had no sooner
spoken, than he advanced near to the torch, and

[figure description] Page 152.[end figure description]

looked closely into the condition of his pistols. Then
turning to old Mark, he continued in an under tone—

“Peradventure there will be more worldly strife
than any which can flow from the agencies that
stir up the unquiet spirits of the Colonies. In such
an extremity, it may be well to observe a soldier's
caution.”

“I like not this mockery of sound,” returned
the Puritan; “it argueth a taunting and fiend-like
temper. We have, of late, had in this Colony
tragical instances of what the disappointed malice
of Azazel can attempt; and it would be vain to
hope that the evil agencies are not vexed with the
sight of my Bethel.”

Though the stranger listened to the words of his
host with respect, it was plain that his thoughts
dwelt on dangers of a different character. The
member that still rested on the handle of his weapon,
was clenched with greater firmness; and a grim,
though a melancholy expression was seated about
a mouth, that was compressed in a manner to denote
the physical, rather than the spiritual resolution of
the man. He made a sign to the two companions
he had chosen, and led the way to the court.

By this time, the shades of night had materially
thickened, and, although the hour was still early, a
darkness had come over the valley that rendered it
difficult to distinguish objects at any distance from
the eye. The obscurity made it necessary that
they, who now issued from the door of the dwelling,
should advance with caution, lest, ere properly admonished
of its presence, their persons should be
exposed to some lurking danger. When the three,
however, were safely established behind the thick
curtain of plank and earth that covered and commanded
the entrance, and where their persons, from
the shoulders downward, were completely protected,
alike from shot and arrow, Content demanded to

[figure description] Page 153.[end figure description]

know, who applied at his gates for admission at an
hour when they were habitually closed for the
night. Instead of receiving, as before, a ready
answer, the silence was so profound, that his own
words were very distinctly heard repeated, as was
not uncommon at that quiet hour, among the recesses
of the neighboring woods.

“Come it from Devil, or come it from man, here
is treachery!” whispered the stranger after a fitting
pause. “Artifice must be met by artifice; but thou
art much abler to advise against the wiles of the
forest, than one trained, as I have been, in the less
cunning deceptions of Christian warfare.”

“What think'st, Dudley?” asked Content—“Will
it be well to sally, or shall we wait another signal
from the conch?”

“Much dependeth on the quality of the guests
expected,” returned he of whom counsel was asked.
“As for the braggart gallants, that are over-valiant
among the maidens, and heavy of heart when they
think the screech of the jay an Indian whoop, I care
not if ye beat the pickets to the earth, and call
upon them to enter on the gallop. I know the
manner to send them to the upper story of the
block, quicker than the cluck of the turkey can
muster its young; but—”

“'Tis well to be discreet in language, in a moment
of such serious uncertainty!” interrupted the stranger.
“We look for no gallants of the kind.”

“Then will I give you a conceit that shall know
the reason of the music of yon conch. Go ye two
back into the house, making much conversation by
the way, in order that any without may hear.
When ye have entered, it shall be my task to find
such a post nigh the gate, that none shall knock
again, and no porter be at hand to question them
in the matter of their errand.”

“This soundeth better,” said Content; “and that

[figure description] Page 154.[end figure description]

it may be done with all safety, some others of the
young men, who are accustomed to this species of
artifice, shall issue by the secret door and lie in wait
behind the dwellings, in order that support shall
not be wanting in case of violence. Whatever else
thou dost, Dudley, remember that thou dost not
undo the fastenings of the postern.”

“Look to the support,” returned the woodsman;
“should it be keen-eyed Reuben Ring, I shall feel
none the less certain that good aid is at my back.
The whole of that family are quick of wit and
ready of invention, unless it may be the wight who
hath got the form without the reason of a man.”

“Thou shalt have Reuben, and none other of his
kin,” said Content. “Be well advised of the fastenings,
and so I wish thee all fitting success, in a deception
that cannot be sinful, since it aims only at
our safety.”

With this injunction, Content and the stranger
left Dudley to the practice of his own devices, the
former observing the precaution to speak aloud
while returning, in order that any listeners without
might be led to suppose the whole party had retired
from the search, satisfied of its fruitlessness.

In the mean time, the youth left nigh the postern
set about the accomplishment of the task he had
undertaken, in sober earnest. Instead of descending
in a direct line to the palisadoes, he also ascended,
and made a circuit among the out-buildings on the
margin of the acclivity. Then bending so low as
to blend his form with objects on the snow, he gained
an angle of the palisadoes, at a point remote from
the spot he intended to watch, and, as he hoped,
aided by the darkness of the hour and the shadows
of the hill, completely protected from observation.
When beneath the palisadoes, the sentinel crouched
to the earth, creeping with extreme caution along
the timber which united their lower ends, until he

[figure description] Page 155.[end figure description]

found himself arrived at a species of sentry-box,
that was erected for the very purpose to which he
now intended it should be applied. Once within the
cover of this little recess, the sturdy woodsman
bestowed his large frame, with as much attention
to comfort and security as the circumstances would
permit. Here he prepared to pass many weary
minutes, before there should be further need of his
services.

The reader will find no difficulty in believing
that one of opinions like those of the borderer, did
not enter on his silent watch without much distrust
of the character of the guests that he might be
called upon to receive. Enough has been shown to
prove that the suspicion uppermost in his mind was,
that the unwelcome agents of the government had
returned on the heels of the stranger. But, notwithstanding
the seeming probability of this opinion,
there were secret misgivings of the earthly
origin of the two last windings of the shell. All the
legends, and all the most credited evidence in cases
of prestigious agency, as it had been exhibited in
the colonies of New-England, went to show the
malignant pleasure the Evil Spirits found, in indulging
their wicked mockeries, or in otherwise tormenting
those who placed their support on a faith,
that was believed to be so repugnant to their own
ungrateful and abandoned natures. Under the impressions,
naturally excited by the communication
he had held with the traveller in the mountains,
Eben Dudley found his mind equally divided between
the expectation of seeing, at each moment,
one of the men whom he had induced to quit the
valley so unceremoniously, returning to obtain, surreptitiously,
admission within the gate, or of being
made an unwilling witness of some wicked manifestation
of that power which was temporarily committed
to the invisibles. In both of these

[figure description] Page 156.[end figure description]

expectations, however, he was fated to be disappointed.
Notwithstanding the strong spiritual bias of the
opinions of the credulous sentinel, there was too
much of the dross of temporal things in his composition,
to elevate him altogether above the weakness
of humanity. A mind so encumbered began
to weary with its own contemplations; and, as it
grew feeble with its extraordinary efforts, the
dominion of matter gradually resumed its sway.
Thought, instead of being clear and active, as the
emergency would have seemed to require, began to
grow misty. Once or twice the borderer half arose,
and appeared to look about him with observation;
and then, as his large frame fell heavily back into
its former semi-recumbent attitude, he grew tranquil
and stationary. This movement was several
times repeated, at intervals of increasing length,
till, at the end of an hour, forgetting alike the hunt,
the troopers, and the mysterious agents of evil, the
young man yielded to the fatigue of the day. The
tall oaks of the adjoining forest stood not more immovable
in the quiet of the tranquil hour, than his
frame now leaned against the side of its narrow
habitation.

How much time was thus lost in inactivity, Eben
Dudley could never precisely tell. He always
stoutly maintained it could not have been long, since
his watch was not disturbed by the smallest of those
sounds from the woods, which sometimes occur in
deep night, and which may be termed the breathing
of the forest in its slumbers. His first distinct recollection,
was that of feeling a hand grasped with
the power of a giant. Springing to his feet, the
young man eagerly stretched forth an arm, saying
as he did so, in words sufficiently confused—

“If the buck hath fallen by a shot in the head,
I grant him to be thine, Reuben Ring; but if struck

[figure description] Page 157.[end figure description]

in limb or body, I claim the venison for a surer
hand.”

“Truly, a very just division of the spoil,” returned
one in an under tone, and speaking as if sounds
too loud might be dangerous. “Thou givest the
head of the deer for a target to Reuben Ring, and
keepest the rest of the creature to thine own uses.”

“Who hath sent thee, at this hour, to the postern?
Dost not know that there are thought to be
strangers, outlying in the fields?”

“I know that there are some, who are not strangers,
in-lying on their watch!” said Faith Ring.
“What shame would come upon thee, Dudley, did
the Captain, and they who have been so strongly
exercised in prayer within, but suspect how little
care thou hast had of their safety, the while!”

“Have they come to harm? If the Captain hath
held them to spiritual movements, I hope he will
allow that nothing earthly hath passed this postern
to disturb the exercise. As I hope to be dealt honestly
by, in all matters of character, I have not
once quitted the gate, since the watch was set.”

“Else wouldst thou be the famousest sleep-walker
in the Connecticut Colony! Why, drowsy one, conch
cannot raise a louder blast than that thou soundest,
when eyes are fairly shut in sleep. This may be
watching, according to thy meaning of the word;
but infant in its cradle is not half so ignorant of
that which passeth around it, as thou hast been.”

“I think, Faith Ring, that thou hast gotten to
be much given to backbiting, and evil saying against
friends, since the visit of the gallants from over
sea.”

“Out upon the gallants from over sea, and thee
too, man! I am not a girl to be flouted with bold
speech from one who doth not know whether he be
sleeping or waking. I tell thee, thy good name
would be lost in the family, did it come to the ears

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of the Captain, and more particularly to the knowledge
of that soldier stranger, up in the dwelling, of
whom even the Madam maketh so great ceremony,
that thou hast been watching with a tuneful nose,
an open mouth, and a sealed eye.”

“If any but thee hadst said this slander of me,
girl, it would go nigh to raise hot speech between
us! Thy brother, Reuben Ring, knows better than
to stir my temper, by such falsity of accusation.”

“Thou dealest so generously by him, that he is
prone to forget thy misdeeds. Truly he hath the
head of the buck, while thou contentest thyself with
the offals and all the less worthy parts! Go to, Dudley;
thou wast in a heavy dream when I caused
thee to awake.”

“A pretty time have we fallen upon, when petticoats
are used instead of beards and strong-armed
men, to go the rounds of the sentinels, and to say
who sleepeth and who is watchful! What hath
brought thee so far from the exercises and so nigh
the gates, Mistress Faith, now that there is no over-sea
gallant to soothe thy ears with lying speech
and light declarations.”

“If speech not to be credited is that I seek,” returned
the girl, “truly the errand hath not been
without its reward. What brought me hither, sooth!
why, the Madam hath need of articles from the
outer buttery—and—ay—and my ears led me to
the postern. Thou knowest, musical Dudley, that
I have had occasion to hearken to thy watchful
notes before this night. But my time is too useful
to be wasted in idleness; thou art now awake, and
may thank her who hath done thee a good turn
with no wish to boast of it, that one of a black
beard is not the laughing-stock of all the youths in
the family. If thou keepest thine own counsel, the
Captain may yet praise thee for a vigilant sentinel;

[figure description] Page 159.[end figure description]

though Heaven forgive him the wrong he will do
the truth!”

“Perhaps a little anger at unjust suspicions may
have prompted more than the matter needed, Faith,
when I taxed thee with the love of backbiting, and
I do now recall that word; though I will ever deny
that aught more, than some wandering recollection
concerning the hunt of this day, hath come over
my thoughts, and perhaps made me even forgetful
that it was needful to be silent at the postern; and
therefore, on the truth of a Christian man, I do forgive
thee, the—”

But Faith was already out of sight and out of
hearing. Dudley himself, who began to have certain
prickings of conscience concerning the ingratitude
he had manifested to one who had taken so much
interest in his reputation, now bethought him seriously
of that which remained to be done. He had
much reason to suspect that there was less of the
night before him than he had at first believed, and
he became in consequence more sensible of the necessity
of making some report of the events of his
watch. Accordingly, he cast a scrutinizing glance
around, in order to make sure that the facts should
not contradict his testimony, and then, first examining
the fastenings of the postern, he mounted the
hill, and presented himself before the family. The
members of the latter, having in truth passed most
of the long interval of his absence in spiritual exercises,
and in religious conversation, were not so
sensible of his delay in reporting, as they might
otherwise have been.

“What tidings dost thou bring us from without?”
said Content, so soon as the self-relieved sentinel
appeared. “Hast seen any, or hast heard that
which is suspicious?”

Ere Dudley would answer, his eye did not fail to
study the half-malicious expression of the

[figure description] Page 160.[end figure description]

countenance of her who was busy in some domestic toil,
directly opposite to the place where he stood. But
reading there no more than a glance of playful
though smothered irony, he was encouraged to proceed
in his report.

“The watch has been quiet,” was the answer;
“and there is little cause to keep the sleepers longer
from their beds. Some vigilant eyes, like those
of Reuben Ring and my own, had better be open
until the morning; further than that, is there no
reason for being wakeful.”

Perhaps the borderer would have dwelt more at
large on his own readiness to pass the remainder of
the hours of rest in attending to the security of
those who slept, had not another wicked glance
from the dark, laughing eye of her who stood so
favorably placed to observe his countenance, admonished
him of the prudence of being modest in his
professions.

“This alarm hath then happily passed away,”
said the Puritan, arising. “We will now go to our
pillows in thankfulness and peace. Thy service shall
not be forgotten, Dudley; for thou hast exposed
thyself to seeming danger, at least, in our behalf.”

“That hath he!” half-whispered Faith; “and
sure am I, that we maidens will not forget his readiness
to lose the sweets of sleep, in order that the
feeble may not come to harm.”

“Speak not of the trifle,” hurriedly returned the
other. “There has been some deception in the
sounds, for it is now my opinion, except to summon
us to the gate, that this stranger might enter—the
conch hath not been touched at all to night.”

“Then is it a deception which is repeated!” exclaimed
Content, rising from his chair as a faint and
broken blast from the shell, like that which had
first announced their visiter, again struggled among

[figure description] Page 161.[end figure description]

the buildings, until it reached every ear in the
dwelling.

“Here is warning as mysterious as it may prove
portentous!” said old Mark Heathcote, when the
surprise, not to say consternation of the moment,
had subsided. “Hast seen nothing that might justify
this?”

Eben Dudley, like most of the auditors, was too
much confounded to reply. All seemed to attend
anxiously for the second and more powerful blast,
which was to complete the imitation of the stranger's
summons. It was not necessary to wait long;
for in a time as near as might be, to that which had
intervened between the two first peals of the horn,
followed another, and in a note so true, again, as to
give it the semblance of an echo.