reckon?"

"I judged not," answered Ella; "though, from his tranquil sleep, I
argued favorably of his case."

"Well," rejoined the other, "it's my opine the crisis is at hand; and
that he'll ayther come out o' this _lethargick_--as they calls it--a
rational, or die straight off. 'Spose you look at him agin, Ella; or,
stay, I'll look myself. Poor feller! how he did rave and run on 'bout
his troubles at home, that's away off, until I all but cried, in
reckoning how I'd feel ef it war Isaac as war going on so.".

As the speaker concluded, she advanced to where the object of her
remarks was lying; and, drawing aside in a gentle manner, some of the
skins near his head, gazed upon him.

As will be surmised by the reader, not a syllable of the foregoing
colloquy had been lost upon Reynolds; who heard, with unbounded
astonishment, of his narrow escape from that dark valley whence none who
enter again return, and that three days had elapsed since he had fallen
into an unconscious state. He learned, too, with regret, that he had
been communicating matters--to what extent he knew not--to others, which
he wished safely locked in his own breast; and judging it best, in the
present instance, to dissemble a little, that his informant might not be
aware of his having overheard her, he feigned to be asleep on her
approach.

"He's sleeping yit, poor creater," continued the hostess, as she bent
over the bed of our hero, until he felt her breath upon his face. "I
hope it arn't a going to be his final sleep--so young, and so handsome