Lillian Gary Taylor; Robert C. Taylor; Eveline V. Maydell, N. York 1923. [figure description] Bookplate: silhouette of seated man on right side and seated woman on left side. The man is seated in a adjustable, reclining armchair, smoking a pipe and reading a book held in his lap. A number of books are on the floor next to or beneath the man's chair. The woman is seated in an armchair and appears to be knitting. An occasional table (or end table) with visible drawer handles stands in the middle of the image, between the seated man and woman, with a vase of flowers and other items on it. Handwritten captions appear below these images.[end figure description]

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Title Page [figure description] Title page.[end figure description]

EDGAR HUNTLY;
OR,
MEMOIRS
OF A
SLEEP*WALKER. BY THE AUTHOR OF ARTHUR MERVYN,
WIELAND,—ORMOND, &c.
VOL. III. PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED BY H, MAXWELL, No. 3 LETITIA COURT,
AND SOLD BY THOMAS DOBSON, ASBURY DICKINS,
AND THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS....

1799.

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Main text

EDGAR HUNTLY; OR, MEMOIRS OF A SLEEP-WALKER. CHAPTER XX.

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I likewise burned with impatience
to know the condition of my
family, to dissipate at once their tormenting
doubts and my own, with regard to
our mutual safety. The evil that I
feared had befallen them was too enormous
to allow me to repose in suspense,
and my restlessness and ominous forebodings
would be more intolerable than
any hardship or toils to which I could
possibly be subjected during this journey.

[figure description] Page 004.[end figure description]

I was much refreshed and invigorated
by the food that I had taken, and by the
rest of an hour. With this stock of
recruited force I determined to scale the
hill. After receiving minute directions,
and returning many thanks for my hospitable
entertainment, I set out.

The path was indeed intricate, and
deliberate attention was obliged to be
exerted in order to preserve it. Hence
my progress was slower than I wished.
The first impulse was to fix my eye upon
the summit, and to leap from crag to
crag till I reached it, but this my experience
had taught me was impracticable.
It was only by winding through gullies,
and coasting precipices and bestriding
chasms, that I could hope finally to gain
the top, and I was assured that by one
way only was it possible to accomplish
even this.

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An hour was spent in struggling
with impediments, and I seemed to have
gained no way. Hence a doubt was
suggested whether I had not missed the
true road. In this doubt I was confirmed
by the difficulties which now grew up
before me. The brooks, the angles and
the hollows, which my hostess had described,
were not to be seen. Instead of
these, deeper dells, more headlong torrents
and wider gaping rifts were incessantly
encountered.

To return was as hoples as to proceed.
I consoled myself with thinking that
the survey which my informant had made
of the hill-side, might prove inaccurate,
and that in spite of her predictions, the
heights might be reached by other means
than by those pointed out by her. I
will not enumerate my toilsome expedients,
my frequent disappointments and
my desperate exertions. Suffice it to say

[figure description] Page 006.[end figure description]

that I gained the upper space, not till
the sun had dipped beneath the horizon.

My satisfaction at accomplishing thus
much was not small, and I hied, with renovated
spirits, to the opposite brow. This
proved to be a steep that could not be
descended. The river flowed at its
foot. The opposite bank was five hundred
yards distant, and was equally
towering and steep as that on which I
stood. Appearances were adapted to
persuade you that these rocks had formerly
joined, but by some mighty effort
of nature, had been severed, that the
stream might find way through the
chasm. The channel, however, was encumbered
with asperities over which
the river fretted and foamed with thundering
impetuosity.

I pondered for a while on these stupendous
scenes. They ravished my attention
from considerations that related

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to myself; but this interval was short, and
I began to measure the descent, in order
to ascertain the practicability of treading
it. My survey terminated in bitter disappointment.
I turned my eye successively
eastward and westward. Solebury lay
in the former direction, and thither I
desired to go. I kept along the verge
in this direction, till I reached an impassable
rift. Beyond this I saw that the
steep grew lower, but it was impossible
to proceed farther. Higher up the descent
might be practicable, and though
more distant from Solebury, it was
better to reach the road, even at that
distance, than never to reach it.

Changing my course, therefore, I
explored the spaces above. The night
was rapidly advancing, the grey clouds
gathered in the south-east, and a chilling
blast, the usual attendent of a night in

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October, began to whistle among the
pigmy cedars that scantily grew upon
these heights. My progress would quickly
be arrested by darkness, and it behoved
me to provide some place of shelter
and repose. No recess, better than an
hollow in the rock, presented itself to my
anxious scrutiny.

Meanwhile I would not dismiss the
hope of reaching the road, which I saw
some hundred feet below, winding along
the edge of the river, before daylight
should utterly fail. Speedily these hopes
derived new vigour from meeting a ledge
that irregularly declined from the brow of
the hill. It was wide enough to allow
of cautious footing. On a similar stratum,
or ledge, projecting still further from
the body of the hill, and close to the surface
of the river, was the road. This
stratum ascended from the level of the
stream, while that on which I trod rapidly

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descended. I hoped that they would
speedly be blended, or at least approach
so near as to allow me to leap from one to
the other without enormous hazard.

This fond expectation was frustrated.
Presently I perceived that the ledge
below began to descend, while that above
began to tend upward, and was quickly
terminated by the uppermost surface of
the cliff. Here it was needful to pause.
I looked over the brink and considered
whether I might not leap from my present
station, without endangering my
limbs. The road into which I should
fall was a rocky pavement far from being
smooth. The descent could not be less
than forty or fifty feet. Such an attempt
was, to the last degree, hazardous, but
was it not better to risque my life by
leaping from this eminence, than to
remain and perish on the top of this
inhospitable mountain. The toils which

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I had endured, in reaching this height
appeared to my panic-struck fancy, less
easy to be borne again than death.

I know not but that I should have
finally resolved to leap, had not different
views been suggested by observing that
the outer edge of the road was, in like
manner, the brow of a steep which terminated
in the river. The surface of the
road, was twelve or fifteen feet above
the level of the stream, which, in this
spot was still and smooth. Hence I
inferred that the water was not of inconsiderable
depth. To fall upon rocky
points was, indeed, dangerous, but to
plunge into water of sufficient depth,
even from an height greater than that
at which I now stood, especially to one to
whom habit had rendered water almost
as congenial an element as air, was
scarcely attended with inconvenience.
This expedient was easy and safe.

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Twenty yards from this spot, the channel
was shallow, and to gain the road from
the stream, was no difficult exploit.

Some disadvantages, however, attended
this scheme. The water was
smooth, but this might arise from some
other cause than its depth. My gun,
likewise, must be left behind me, and
that was a loss to which I felt invincible
repugnance. To let it fall upon the road,
would put it in my power to retrieve
the possession, but it was likely to be
irreparably injured by the fall.

While musing upon this expedient,
and weighing injuries with benefits, the
night closed upon me. I now considered
that should I emerge in safety from the
stream, I should have many miles to
travel before I could reach an house.
My clothes meanwhile would be loaded
with wet. I should be heart-pierced by
the icy blast that now blew, and my

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wounds and bruises would be chafed
into insupportable pain.

I reasoned likewise on the folly of
impatience and the necessity of repose.
By thus long continuance in one posture,
my sinews began to stiffen, and my reluctance
to make new exertions to encrease.
My brows were heavy, and I felt an irresistible
propensity to sleep. I concluded
to seek some shelter, and resign myself,
my painful recollections, and my mournful
presages to sweet forgetfulness. For
this end, I once more ascended to the
surface of the cliff. I dragged my weary
feet forward, till I found somewhat that
promised me the shelter that I sought.

A cluster of cedars appeared, whose
branches over-arched a space that
might be called a bower. It was a slight
cavity, whose flooring was composed of
loose stones and a few faded leaves blown
from a distance, and finding a temporary

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lodgement here. On one side was a rock,
forming a wall rugged and projecting
above. At the bottom of the rock was a
rift, some-what resembling a coffin in
shape, and not much larger in dimensions.
This rift terminated on the opposite
side of the rock, in an opening that
was too small for the body of a man to
pass. The distance between each entrance
was twice the length of a man.

This bower was open to the South-east
whence the gale now blew. It therefore
imperfectly afforded the shelter of
which I stood in need; but it was the
best that the place and the time afforded.
To stop the smaller entrance of the cavity
with a stone, and to heap before the other,
branches lopped from the trees with my
hatchet, might somewhat contribute to
my comfort.

This was done, and thrusting myself
into this recess, as far as I was able, I

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prepared for repose. It might have been reasonably
suspected to be the den of
rattle-snakes or panthers; but my late contention
with superior dangers and more
formidable enemies made me reckless of
these, but another inconvenience remained.
In spite of my precautions, my
motionless posture and slender covering
exposed me so much to the cold that I
could not sleep.

The air appeared to have suddenly
assumed the temperature of mid-winter.
In a short time, my extremeties were
benumbed, and my limbs shivered and
ached as if I had been seized by an
ague. My bed likewise was dank and
uneven, and the posture I was obliged
to assume, unnatural and painful. It
was evident that my purpose could not
be answered by remaining here.

I, therefore, crept forth, and began
to reflect upon the possibility of

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continuing my journey. Motion was the
only thing that could keep me from
freezing, and my frame was in that state
which allowed me to take no repose in
the absence of warmth; since warmth
were indispensible. It now occurred to
me to ask whether it were not possible
to kindle a fire.

Sticks and leaves were at hand. My
hatchet and a pebble would enable me
to extract a spark. From this, by suitable
care and perseverance, I might finally
procure sufficient fire to give me comfort
and ease, and even enable me to sleep.
This boon was delicious and I felt as
if I were unable to support a longer
deprivation of it.

I proceeded to execute this scheme. I
took the dryest leaves, and endeavoured
to use them as tinder, but the driest
leaves were moistened by the dews. They

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were only to be found in the hollows, in
some of which were pools of water and
others were dank. I was not speedily
discouraged, but my repeated attempts
failed, and I was finally compelled to
relinquish this expedient.

All that now remained was to wander
forth and keep myself in motion till the
morning. The night was likely to prove
tempestuous and long. The gale seemed
freighted with ice, and acted upon my
body like the points of a thousand needles.
There was no remedy, and I mustered
my patience to endure it.

I returned again, to the brow of the
hill. I ranged along it till I reached a
place where the descent was perpendicular,
and, in consequence of affording no
sustenance to trees or bushes, was nearly
smooth and bare. There was no road
to be seen, and this circumstance, added
to the sounds which the ripling current

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produced, afforded me some knowledge
of my situation.

The ledge, along which the road was
conducted, disappeared near this spot.
The opposite sides of the chasm through
which flowed the river, approached nearer
to each other, in the form of jutting
promontories. I now stood upon the
verge of that on the northern side. The
water flowed at the foot, but, for the
space of ten or twelve feet from the rock,
was so shallow as to permit the traveller
and his horse to wade through it, and
thus to regain the road which the receding
precipice had allowed to be continued
on the farther side.

I knew the nature and dimensions of
this ford. I knew that, at a few yards
from the rock, the channel was of great
depth. To leap into it, in this place, was
a less dangerous exploit, than at the spot
where I had formerly been tempted to

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leap. There I was unacquainted with
the depth, but here I knew it to be considerable.
Still there was some ground
of hesitation and fear. My present station
was loftier, and how deeply I might
sink into this gulf, how far the fall and
the concussion would bereave me of my
presence of mind, I could not determine.
This hesitation vanished, and placing
my tom-hawk and fusil upon the ground,
I prepared to leap.

This purpose was suspended, in the
moment of its execution, by a faint sound,
heard from the quarter whence I had
come. It was the warning of men, but
had nothing in common with those which
I had been accustomed to hear. It was
not the howling of a wolf or the yelling
of a panther. These had often been overheard
by night during my last year's
excursion to the lakes. My fears

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whispered that this was the vociferation of a
savage.

I was unacquainted with the number
of the enemies who had adventured into
this district. Whether those whom I had
encountered at Deb's hut were of that
band whom I had met with in the cavern,
was merely a topic of conjecture. There
might be an half-score of troops, equally
numerous, spread over the wilderness,
and the signal I had just heard might
betoken the approach of one of these.
Yet by what means they should gain
this nook, and what prey they expected
to discover, were not easily conceived.

The sounds, somewhat diversified,
nearer and rising from different quarters,
were again heard. My doubts and apprehensions
were increased. What expedient
to adopt for my own safety, was a
subject of rapid meditation. Whether

[figure description] Page 020.[end figure description]

to remain stretched upon the ground or to
rise and go forward. Was it likely the
enemy would coast along the edge of
the steep? Would they ramble hither to
look upon the ample scene which spread
on all sides around the base of this rocky
pinnacle? In that case, how should I
conduct myself! My arms were ready
for use. Could I not elude the necessity
of shedding more blood? Could I not
anticipate their assault by casting myself
without delay into the stream.

The sense of danger demanded more
attention to be paid to external objects
than to the motives by which my future
conduct should be influenced. My post
was on a circular projecture, in some
degree, detached from the body of the
hill, the brow of which continued in a
streight line, uninterrupted by this projecture,
which was somewhat higher than
the continued summit of the ridge. This

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line ran at the distance of a few paces
from my post. Objects moving along
this line could merely be perceived to
move, in the present obscurity.

My scrutiny was entirely directed to
this quarter. Presently the treading of
many feet was heard, and several figures
were discovered, following each other in
that streight and regular succession which
is peculiar to the Indians. They kept
along the brow of the hill joining the promontory.
I distinctly marked seven
figures in succession.

My resolution was formed. Should
any one cast his eye hither, suspect, or
discover an enemy, and rush towards
me, I determined to start upon my feet,
fire on my foe as he advanced, throw my
piece on the ground, and then leap into
the river.

Happily, they passed unobservant
and in silence. I remained, in the same

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posture, for several minutes. At length,
just as my alarms began to subside, the
hollows, before heard, arose, and from the
same quarter as before. This convinced
me that my perils were not at an end. This
now appeared to be merely the vanguard,
and would speedily be followed by others,
against whom the same caution was
necessary to be taken.

My eye, anxiously bent the only way
by which any one could approach, now
discerned a figure, which was indubitably
that of a man armed, none other
appeared in company, but doubtless
others were near. He approached, stood
still, and appeared to gaze stedfastly at
the spot where I lay.

The optics of a Lennilennapee I knew
to be far keener than my own. A log
or a couched fawn would never be mistaken
for a man, nor a man for a couched
fawn or a log. Not only a human being

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would be instantly detected, but a decision
be unerringly made whether it were
friend or foe. That my prostrate body
was the object on which the attention of
this vigilant and stedfast gazer was fixed,
could not be doubted. Yet, since he
continued an inactive gazer, there was
ground for a possibility to stand upon,
that I was not recognized. My fate,
therefore, was still in suspense.

This interval was momentary. I
marked a movement, which my fears instantly
interpreted to be that of leveling
a gun at my head. This action was sufficiently
conformable to my prognostics.
Supposing me to be detected, there was
no need for him to change his post. Aim
might too fatally be taken, and his prey
be secured, from the distance at which
he now stood.

These images glanced upon my
thought, and put an end to my suspense.

[figure description] Page 024.[end figure description]

A single effort placed me on my feet. I
fired with precipitation that precluded
the certainty of hitting my mark, dropped
my piece upon the ground, and leaped
from this tremendous height into the
river, I reached the surface, and sunk in
a moment to the bottom.

Plunging endlong into the water, the
impetus created by my fall from such an
height, would be slowly resisted by this
denser element. Had the depth been
less, its resistance would not perhaps
have hindered me from being mortally
injured against the rocky bottom. Had
the depth been greater, time enough
would not have been allowed me to
regain the surface. Had I fallen on
my side, I should have been bereaved
of life or sensibility by the shock which
my frame would have received. As it
was, my fate was suspended on a thread.
To have lost my presence of mind, to

[figure description] Page 025.[end figure description]

have forborne to counteract my sinking,
for an instant, after I had reached the
water, would have made all exertions to
regain the air, fruitless. To so fortunate
a concurrence of events, was thy friend
indebted for his safety!

Yet I only emerged from the gulf to
encounter new perils. Scarcely had I
raised my head above the surface, and
inhaled the vital breath, when twenty
shots were aimed at me from the precipice
above. A shower of bullets fell
upon the water. Some of them did not
fall further than two inches from my
head. I had not been aware of this new
danger, and now that it assailed me continued
gasping the air, and floundering
at random. The means of eluding it
did not readily occur. My case seemed
desperate and all caution was dismissed.

This state of discomfiting surprise
quickly disappeared. I made myself

[figure description] Page 026.[end figure description]

acquainted, at a glance, with the position of
surrounding objects. I conceived that
the opposite bank of the river would
afford me most security, and thither I
tended with all the expedition in my
power.

Meanwhile, my safety depended on
eluding the bullets that continued incessantly
to strike the water at an arm's
length from my body. For this end I
plunged beneath the surface, and only
rose to inhale fresh air. Presently the
firing ceased, the flashes that lately illuminated
the bank disappeared, and a
certain bustle and murmur of confused
voices gave place to solitude and silence.

EDGAR HUNTLY. CHAPTER XXI.

[figure description] Page 027.[end figure description]

I reached without difficulty
the opposite bank, but the steep was
inaccessible. I swam along the edge in
hopes of meeting with some projection
or recess where I might, at least, rest my
weary limbs, and if it were necessary to
recross the river, to lay in a stock of
recruited spirits and strength for that
purpose. I trusted that the water would
speedily become shoal, or that the steep
would afford rest to my feet. In both
these hopes I was disappointed.

[figure description] Page 028.[end figure description]

There is no one to whom I would
yield the superiority in swimming, but
my strength, like that of other human
beings, had its limits. My previous
fatigues had been enormous, and my
clothes, heavy with moisture, greatly
incumbered and retarded my movements.
I had proposed to free myself from this
imprisonment, but I foresaw the inconveniences
of wandering over this scene
in absolute nakedness, and was willing
therefore, at whatever hazard, to retain
them. I continued to struggle with the
current and to search for the means of
scaling the steeps. My search was fruitless,
and I began to meditate the recrossing
of the river.

Surely my fate has never been paralleled!
Where was this series of hardships
and perils to end? No sooner was one
calamity eluded, than I was beset by
another. I had emerged from abhorred

[figure description] Page 029.[end figure description]

darkness in the heart of the earth, only
to endure the extremities of famine and
encounter the fangs of a wild beast.
From these I was delivered only to be
thrown into the midst of savages, to wage
an endless and hopeless war with adepts
in killing; with appetites that longed to
feast upon my bowels and to quaff my
heart's-blood. From these likewise was I
rescued, but merely to perish in the gulfs
of the river, to welter on unvisited shores
or to be washed far away from curiosity
or pity.

Formerly water was not only my field
of sport but my sofa and my bed. I
could float for hours on the surface, enjoying
its delicious cool, almost without the
expense of the slightest motion. It was
an element as fitted for repose as for exercise,
but now the buoyant spirit seemed
to have flown. My muscles were shrunk,
the air and water were equally congealed,

[figure description] Page 030.[end figure description]

and my most vehement exertions were
requisite to sustain me on the surface.

At first I had moved along with my
wonted celerity and ease, but quickly my
forces were exhausted. My pantings
and efforts were augmented and I saw
that to cross the river again was impracticable.
I must continue, therefore, to
search out some accessible spot in the
bank along which I was swimming.

Each moment diminished my stock
of strength, and it behoved me to make
good my footing before another minute
should escape. I continued to swim, to
survey the bank, and to make ineffectual
attempts to grasp the rock. The shrubs
which grew upon it would not uphold me,
and the fragments which, for a moment,
inspired me with hope, crumbled away
as soon as they were touched.

At length, I noticed a pine, which
was rooted in a crevice near the water.

[figure description] Page 031.[end figure description]

The trunk, or any part of the root, was
beyond my reach, but I trusted that I
could catch hold of the branch which
hung lowest, and that, when caught, it
would assist me in gaining the trunk,
and thus deliver me from the death which
could not be otherwise averted.

The attempt was arduous. Had it
been made when I first reached the bank,
no difficulty had attended it, but now,
to throw myself some feet above the
surface could scarcely be expected from
one whose utmost efforts seemed to be
demanded to keep him from sinking.
Yet this exploit, arduous as it was, was
attempted and accomplished. Happily
the twigs were strong enough to sustain
my weight till I caught at other branches
and finally placed myself upon the trunk.

This danger was now past, but I
admitted the conviction that others, no

[figure description] Page 032.[end figure description]

less formidable remained to be encountered
and that my ultimate destiny was
death. I looked upward. New efforts
might enable me to gain the summit of this
steep, but, perhaps, I should thus be
placed merely in the situation from which
I had just been delivered. It was of
little moment whether the scene of my
imprisonment was a dungeon not to be
broken, or a summit from which descent
was impossible.

The river, indeed, severed me from
a road which was level and safe, but my
recent dangers were remembered only to
make me shudder at the thought of incurring
them a second time, by attempting
to cross it. I blush at the recollection
of this cowardice. It was little akin to
the spirit which I had recently displayed.
It was, indeed, an alien to my
bosom, and was quickly supplanted by
intrepidity and perseverance.

[figure description] Page 033.[end figure description]

I proceeded to mount the hill. From
root to root, and from branch to branch,
lay my journey. It was finished, and I
sat down upon the highest brow to meditate
on future trials. No road lay
along this side of the river. It was
rugged and sterile, and farms were sparingly
dispersed over it. To reach one of
these was now the object of my wishes.
I had not lost the desire of reaching
Solebury before morning, but my wet
clothes and the coldness of the night
seemed to have bereaved me of the power.

I traversed this summit, keeping the
river on my right hand. Happily, its
declinations and ascents were by no
means difficult, and I was cheered in
the midst of my vexations, by observing
that every mile brought me nearer to my
uncle's dwelling. Meanwhile I anxiously
looked for some tokens of an habitation.

[figure description] Page 034.[end figure description]

These at length presented themselves.
A wild heath, whistled over by October
blasts, meagrely adorned with the dry
stalks of scented shrubs and the bald
heads of the sapless mullen, was succeeded
by a fenced field and a corn-stack.
The dwelling to which these belonged
was eagerly sought.

I was not surprised that all voices
were still and all lights extinguished, for
this was the hour of repose. Having
reached a piazza before the house, I
paused. Whether, at this drousy time,
to knock for admission, to alarm the
peaceful tenants and take from them the
rest which their daily toils and their
rural innocence had made so sweet, or
to retire to what shelter an hay-stack or
barn could afford, was the theme of my
deliberations.

Meanwhile I looked up at the house.
It was the model of cleanliness and

[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

comfort. It was built of wood; but the
materials had undergone the plane, as
well as the axe and the saw. It was
painted white, and the windows not only
had sashes, but these sashes were
supplied, contrary to custom, with glass.
In most cases, the aperture where glass
should be is stuffed with an old hat or a
petticoat. The door had not only all its
parts entire, but was embellished with
mouldings and a pediment. I gathered
from these tokens that this was the abode
not only of rural competence and innocence,
but of some beings, raised by
education and fortune, above the intellectual
mediocrity of clowns.

Methought I could claim consanguinity
with such beings. Not to share
their charity and kindness would be
inflicting as well as receiving injury.
The trouble of affording shelter, and
warmth, and wholesome diet to a wretch

[figure description] Page 036.[end figure description]

destitute as I was, would be eagerly
sought by them.

Still I was unwilling to disturb them.
I bethought myself that their kitchen
might be entered, and all that my necessities
required be obtained without interrupting
their slumber. I needed nothing
but the warmth which their kitchen
hearth would afford. Stretched upon
the bricks, I might dry my clothes, and
perhaps enjoy some unmolested sleep.
In spite of presages of ill and the horrid
remembrances of what I had performed
and endured. I believed that
nature would afford a short respite to my
cares.

I went to the door of what appeared
to be a kitchen. The door was wide
open. This circumstance portended evil.
Though it be not customary to lock or
to bolt, it is still less usual to have entrances
unclosed. I entered with suspicious

[figure description] Page 037.[end figure description]

steps, and saw enough to confirm my
apprehensions. Several pieces of wood
half burned, lay in the midst of the floor.
They appeared to have been removed
hither from the chimney, doubtless with
a view to set fire to the whole building.

The fire had made some progress on
the floor, but had been seasonably extinguished
by pail's-full of water, thrown
upon it. The floor was still deluged
with wet, the pail not emptied of all its
contents stood upon the hearth. The
earthen vessels and plates whose proper
place was the dresser, were scattered in
fragments in all parts of the room. I
looked around me for some one to explain
this scene, but no one appeared.

The last spark of fire was put out,
so that had my curiosity been idle, my
purpose could not be accomplished.
To retire from this scene, neither curiosity
nor benevolence would permit. That

[figure description] Page 038.[end figure description]

some mortal injury had been intended
was apparent. What greater mischief had
befallen, or whether greater might not,
by my interposition, be averted, could
only be ascertained by penetrating further
into the house. I opened a door
on one side which led to the main body
of the building and entered to a bed-chamber.
I stood at the entrance and
knocked, but no one answered my signals

The sky was not totally clouded, so
that some light pervaded the room. I
saw that a bed stood in the corner, but
whether occupied or not, its curtains
hindered me from judging. I stood in
suspense a few minutes, when a motion
in the bed shewed me that some one was
there. I knocked again but withdrew to
the outside of the door. This roused
the sleeper, who, half-groaning and
puffing the air through his nostrils,

[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

grumbled out in the hoarsest voice that
I ever heard, and in a tone of surly impatience...
Who is there?

I hesitated for an answer, but the
voice instantly continued in the manner
of one half-asleep and enraged at being
disturbed... Is't you Peg? Damn ye, stay
away, now; I tell ye stay away, or, by
God I will cut your throat... I will... He
continued to mutter and swear, but without
coherence or distinctness.

These were the accents of drunkenness,
and denoted a wild and ruffian life.
They were little in unison with the
external appearances of the mansion, and
blasted all the hopes I had formed of
mecting under this roof with gentleness
and hospitality. To talk with this being,
to attempt to reason him into humanity
and soberness, was useless. I was at a
loss in what manner to address him, or

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

whether it was proper to maintain any
parley. Meanwhile, my silence was
supplied by the suggestions of his own
distempered fancy. Ay, said he, ye
will, will ye? well come on, let's see who's
the better at the oak-stick. If I part
with ye, before I have bared your bones...
I'll teach ye to be always dipping in
my dish, ye devil's dam! ye!

So saying, he tumbled out of bed.
At the first step, he struck his head
against the bed-post, but setting himself
upright, he staggered towards the spot
where I stood. Some new obstacle occurred.
He stumbled and fell at his
length upon the floor.

To encounter or expostulate with a
man in this state was plainly absurd. I
turned and issued forth, with an aching
heart, into the court before the house.
The miseries which a debauched husband
or father inflicts upon all whom

[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

their evil destiny allies to him were
pictured by my fancy, and wrung from
me tears of anguish. These images,
however, quickly yielded to reflections on
my own state. No expedient now remained,
but to seek the barn, and find a covering
and a bed of straw.

I had scarcely set foot within the
barn-yard when I heard a sound as o
the crying of an infant. It appeared to
issue from the barn. I approached softly
and listened at the door. The cries of
the babe continued, but were accompanied
by intreaties of a nurse or a mother
to be quiet. These intreaties were
mingled with heart-breaking sobs and
exclamations of... Ah! me, my babe!
Canst thou not sleep and afford thy
unhappy mother some peace? Thou art
cold, and I have not sufficient warmth
to cherish thee! What will become of us?

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

Thy deluded father cares not if we both
perish.

A glimpse of the true nature of the
scene seemed to be imparted by these
words. I now likewise recollected incidents
that afforded additional light. Somewhere
on this bank of the river, there
formerly resided one by name Selby.
He was an aged person, who united science
and taste to the simple and laborious
habits of an husbandman. He had a son
who resided several years in Europe,
but on the death of his father, returned
home, accompanied by a wife. He had
succeeded to the occupation of the farm,
but rumour had whispered many tales to
the disadvantage of his morals. His
wife was affirmed to be of delicate and
polished manners, and much unlike her
companion.

It now occured to me that this was the
dwelling of the Selby's, and I seemed to

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

have gained some insight into the discord
and domestic miseries by which the unhappy
lady suffered. This was no time
to waste my sympathy on others. I could
benefit her nothing. Selby had probably
returned from a carousal, with all his
malignant passions raised into phrensy
by intoxication. He had driven his desolate
wife from her bed and house, and to
shun outrage and violence she had fled,
with her helpless infant, to the barn.
To appease his fury, to console her, to
suggest a remedy for this distress, was
not in my power. To have sought an
interview would be merely to excite her
terrors and alarm her delicacy, without
contributing to alleviate her calamity.
Here then was no asylum for me. A
place of rest must be sought at some
neighbouring habitation. It was probable
that one would be found at no great

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

distance, the path that led from the spot
where I stood, through a gate into a
meadow, might conduct me to the nearest
dwelling, and this path I immediately resolved
to explore.

I was anxious to open the gate
without noise, but I could not succeed.
Some creaking of its hinges, was unavoidably
produced, which I feared would be
overheard by the lady and multiply her
apprehensions and perplexities. This
inconvenience was irremediable. I
therefore closed the gate and pursued
the foot way before me with the utmost
expedition. I had not gained the further
end of the meadow when I lighted on
something which lay across the path,
and which, on being closely, inspected,
appeared to be an human body. It was
the corse of a girl, mangled by an hatchet.
Her head gory and deprived of its looks,
easily explained the kind of enemies by

[figure description] Page 045.[end figure description]

whom she had been assailed. Here was
proof that this quiet and remote habitation
had been visited, in their destructive
progress by the Indians. The girl had
been slain by them, and her scalp, according
to their savage custom, had been
torn away to be preserved as a trophy.

The fire which had been kindled on
the kitchen floor was now remembered,
and corroborated the inferences which
were drawn from this spectacle. And
yet that the mischief had been thus
limited, that the besotted wretch who lay
helpless on his bed, and careless of
impending danger, and that the mother
and her infant should escape, excited
some degree of surprise. Could the
savages have been interrupted in their
work, and obliged to leave their vengeance
unfinished?

Their visit had been recent. Many
hours had not elapsed since they prowled

[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

about these grounds. Had they wholly
disappeared and meant they not to
return? To what new danger might I
be exposed in remaining thus guideless
and destitute of all defence?

In consequence of these reflections,
I proceeded with more caution. I looked
with suspicious glances, before and on
either side of me. I now approached
the fence which, on this side, bounded
the meadow. Something was discerned
or immagined, stretched close to the
fence, on the ground, and filling up the
path-way. My apprehensions of a
lurking enemy, had been previously
awakened, and my fancy instantly figured
to itself an armed man, lying on the
ground and waiting to assail the unsuspecting
passenger.

At first I was prompted to fly, but a
second thought shewed me that I had
already approached near enough to be

[figure description] Page 047.[end figure description]

endangered. Notwithstanding my pause,
the form was motionless. The possibility
of being misled in my conjectures was
easily supposed. What I saw might be a
log or it might be another victim to savage
ferocity. This tract was that which my
safety required me to pursue. To turn
aside or go back would be merely to
bewilder myself anew.

Urged by these motives, I went
nearer, and at least was close enough to
perceive that the figure was human.
He lay upon his face, near his right hand
was a musquet, unclenched. This circumstance,
his death-like attitude and
the garb and ornaments of an Indian,
made me readily suspect the nature and
cause of this catastrophe. Here the
invaders had been encountered and
repulsed, and one at least of their number
had been left upon the field.

[figure description] Page 048.[end figure description]

I was weary of contemplating these
rueful objects. Custom, likewise, even
in so short a period, had innured me to
spectacles of horror. I was grown callous
and immoveable. I staid not to ponder
on the scene, but snatching the musquet,
which was now without an owner, and
which might be indispensable to my defence,
I hastened into the wood. On
this side the meadow was skirted by a
forest, but a beaten road lead into it,
and might therefore be attempted without
danger.

EDGAR HUNTLY. CHAPTER XXII.

[figure description] Page 049.[end figure description]

The road was intricate and long.
It seemed designed to pervade the forest
in every possible direction. I frequently
noticed cut wood, piled in heaps upon
either side, and rejoiced in these tokens
that the residence of men was near. At
length I reached a second fence, which
proved to be the boundary of a road still
more frequented. I pursued this, and presently
beheld, before me, the river and
its opposite barriers.

This object afforded me some knowledge
of my situation. There was a
ford over which travellers used to pass,

[figure description] Page 050.[end figure description]

and in which the road that I was now
pursuing terminated. The stream was
rapid and tumultuous, but in this place
it did not rise higher than the shoulders.
On the opposite side was an highway,
passable by horses and men, though not
carriages, and which led into the midst of
Solebury. Should I not rush into the
stream, and still aim at reaching my
uncle's house before morning? Why
should I delay?

Thirty hours of incessant watchfulness
and toil, of enormous efforts and
perils, preceded and accompanied by
abstinence and wounds, were enough to
annihilate the strength and courage of
ordinary men. In the course of them, I had
frequently believed myself to have reached
the verge beyond which my force
would not carry me, but experience as
frequently demonstrated my error.
Though many miles, were yet to be

[figure description] Page 051.[end figure description]

traversed, though my clothes were once
more to be drenched and loaded with
moisture, though every hour seemed to
add somewhat to the keenness of the
blast: yet how should I know, but by trial,
whether my stock of energy was not sufficient
for this last exploit?

My resolution to proceed was nearly
formed, when the figure of a man moving
slowly across the road, at some distance
before me, was observed. Hard by this
ford lived a man by name Bisset, of
whom I had slight knowledge. He
tended his two hundred acres with a
plodding and money-doating spirit, while
his son overlooked a Grist-mill, on the
river. He was a creature of gain, coarse
and harmless. The man whom I saw before
me might be he, or some one belonging
to his family. Being armed for defence,
I less scrupled a meeting with any thing

[figure description] Page 052.[end figure description]

in the shape of man. I therefore called.
The figure stopped and answered me,
without surliness or anger. The voice
was unlike that of Bisset, but this person's
information I believed would be of
some service.

Coming up to him, he proved to be
a clown, belonging to Bisset's habitation.
His panic and surprise on seeing me
made him aghast. In my present garb
I should not have easily been recognized
by my nearest kinsman, and much less
easily by one who had seldom met me.

It may be easily conceived that my
thoughts, when allowed to wander from
the objects before me, were tormented
with forebodings and inquietudes on account
of the ills which I had so much
reason to believe had befallen my family.
I had no doubt that some evil had happened,
but the full extent of it was still
uncertain. I desired and dreaded to

[figure description] Page 053.[end figure description]

discover the truth, and was unable to
interrogate this person in a direct manner.
I could deal only in circuities and
hints. I shuddered while I waited for
an answer to my inquiries.

Had not Indians, I asked, been lately
seen in this neighbourhood? Were they
not suspected of hostile designs? Had
they not already committed some mischief?
Some passenger, perhaps, had
been attacked; or fire had been set to
some house? On which side of the river
had their steps been observed, or any
devastation been committed? Above the
ford or below it? At what distance from
the river?

When his attention could be withdrawn
from my person and bestowed
upon my questions, he answered that
some alarm had indeed been spread
about Indians, and that parties from
Solebury and Chetasko were out in

[figure description] Page 054.[end figure description]

pursuit of them, that many persons had been
killed by them, and that one house in
Solebury had been rifled and burnt on
the night before the last.

These tidings were a dreadful confirmation
of my fears. There scarcely
remained a doubt: but still my expiring
hope prompted me to inquire to whom
did the house belong?

He answered that he had not heard
the name of the owner. He was a stranger
to the people on the other side of
the river.

Were any of the inhabitants murdered?

Yes. All that were at home except
a girl whom they carried off. Some said
that the girl had been retaken?

What was the name? Was it Huntly?

Huntly? yes. No. He did not know.
He had forgotten.

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