might be dangerous to deny. "My job is not yet ended; let us finish
the little that remains, in peace."

The man, who had manifested so hostile an intention, appeared to
understand the other's allusion, and suffered himself to be diverted
from his object. The sons turned their inquiring looks on the girl,
who had so eagerly spoken, to require an explanation; but, as if
content with the respite she had obtained for the stranger, she sunk
back, in her seat, and chose to affect a maidenly silence.

In the mean time, the hues of the heavens had often changed. In place
of the brightness, which had dazzled the eye, a gray and more sober
light had succeeded, and as the setting lost its brilliancy, the
proportions of the fanciful form became less exaggerated, and finally
distinct. Ashamed to hesitate, now that the truth was no longer
doubtful, the leader of the party resumed his journey, using the
precaution, as he ascended the slight acclivity, to release his own
rifle from the strap, and to cast it into a situation more convenient
for sudden use.

There was little apparent necessity, however, for such watchfulness.
From the moment when it had thus unaccountably appeared, as it were,
between the heavens and the earth, the stranger's figure had neither
moved nor given the smallest evidence of hostility. Had he harboured
any such evil intention, the individual who now came plainly into
view, seemed but little qualified to execute them.

A frame that had endured the hardships of more than eighty seasons,
was not qualified to awaken apprehension, in the breast of one as
powerful as the emigrant. Notwithstanding his years, and his look of