Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/213

 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.

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, which 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 m uncle's dwelling. Meanwhile I anxiously looked for some tokens of a habitation; these at length presented themselves:—a wild heath, whistled over by October blasts, meagerly 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 drowsy 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 a haystack or barn could afford, was the theme of my deliberations.

Meanwhile I looked up at the house, it was the model