Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/169

 made against the danger of meeting him without, or of being pursued?

Before a resolution could be formed, a new sound saluted my ear: it was a deep groan, succeeded by sobs that seemed struggling for utterance, but were vehemently counteracted by the sufferer. This low and bitter lamentation apparently proceeded from some one within the cave:—it could not be from one of this swarthy band: it must then proceed from a captive whom they had reserved for torment or servitude, and who had seized the opportunity afforded by the absence of him that watched, to give vent to his despair.

I again thrust my head forward, and beheld lying on the ground apart from the rest, and bound hand and foot, a young girl. Her dress was the coarse russet garb of the country, and bespoke her to be some farmer's daughter. Her features denoted the last degree of fear and anguish; and she moved her limbs in such a manner as showed that the ligatures by which she was confined, produced by their tightness, the utmost degree of pain.

My wishes were now bent, not only to preserve myself, and to frustrate the future attempts of these savages, but likewise to relieve this miserable victim. This could only be done by escaping from the cavern, and returning with seasonable aid:—the sobs of the girl were likely to rouse the sleepers: my appearance before her would prompt her to testify her surprise by some exclamation or shriek. What could hence be predicted but that the band would start on their feet, and level their unerring pieces at my head?

I know not why I was insensible to these dangers. My thirst was rendered by these delays intolerable; it took from me in some degree the power of deliberation: the murmurs which had drawn me hither continued still to be heard; some torrent or cascade could not be far distant from the entrance of the cavern, and it seemed as if one draught of clear water was a luxury cheaply purchased by death itself: this, in addition to considerations more disinterested, and which I have already mentioned, impelled me forward.