Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/177

 roof, drowned insects, and sand; a basket or two, neatly made; and a hoe, with a stake thrust into it by way of handle; made up all the furniture that was visible.

Next to cold, hunger was the most urgent necessity by which we were now pressed. This was no time to give ear to scruples: we therefore unceremoniously divided the bread and the water between us. I had now leisure to bestow some regards upon the future.

These remnants of fire and food convinced me that this dwelling was usually inhabited, and that it had lately been deserted. Some engagement had probably carried the tenant abroad: his absence might be terminated in a few minutes, or might endure through the night. On his return I questioned not my power to appease any indignation he might feel at the liberties which I had taken: I was willing to suppose him one who would readily afford us all the information and succour that we needed.

If he should not return till sunrise, I meant to resume my journey. By the comfortable meal we had made, and the repose of a few hours, we should be considerably invigorated and refreshed, and the road would lead us to some more hospitable tenement.

My thoughts were too tumultuous, and my situation too precarious, to allow me to sleep: the girl, on the contrary, soon sunk into a sweet oblivion of all her cares: she laid herself, by my advice, upon the bed, and left me to ruminate without interruption.

I was not wholly free from the apprehension of danger. What influence his boisterous and solitary life might have upon the temper of the being who inhabited this hut, I could not predict: how soon the Indians might awake, and what path they would pursue, I was equally unable to guess; it was by no means impossible that they might tread upon my footsteps, and knock in a few minutes at the door of this cottage. It behoved me to make all the preparation in my power against untoward incidents.

I had not parted with the gun which I had first seized in the cavern, nor with the hatchet which I had afterwards used to cut the bands of the girl. These were at once my trophies and my means of defence, which it had been rash