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Teunis afterwards found and read. On looking up from the page a moment, she perceived Miss Clinton all drawn up, as if something was pressing upon her breast like a nightmare, which she was struggling to resist. She ran immediately to the lady's side, and saw the cause, which had almost an equal influence upon herself. Shandaagan was prowling around among the smoking ruins, with his face turned toward the very spot where they were hidden. Her first impulse was to lift the long gun that lay loaded at her side, and finish his career; but prudence as much as humanity restrained her. She, however, took a look around the apartment, determined to resist his entrance should he discover it. Nearer and nearer he came as if he were examining every inch of ground, and the extraordinary instinct of the Indian appeared now to lead him in the very direction where they were sitting. He seemed more like a dog smelling the ground than a man scrutinizing it by reasoning faculties. He was within twenty yards of the place where she sat, and was still approaching. A thought struck her; she began to hiss like a serpent, in a low, slow manner, till she saw the attention of the Indian arrested, when she changed her place, and continued hissing till it became near a whistle. Rover, who was half sleeping, rose suddenly at this, and was about to reply in his own style, when his mistress seized him by the paws, preventing what must have discovered the whole nest. But the hissing and the under-growl were sufficient to awaken new thoughts in the mind of her pursuer, for after laying his ear to the ground, he arose, going quite over the spot where they were looking through at him; so close indeed that the toes of his moccasins were fixed in the holes of their cell, as he climbed to the top. A new danger now appeared. He might discover the door in the rear. Giving the dog in charge of her mother, and setting Miss Clinton to watch the road, putting a large pistol in her hand, which made Margaret look for the moment like a soldier's daughter, Elsie started for the back part of their citadel to look out. Her courage was equal to the occasion. Taking her long gun with her, she crawled through between the rocks, feeling quite certain that some one was walking above. She paused that she might listen, scarcely breathing, lest she herself should be heard, when, to her still greater alarm, Rover, who had made his escape from the easier

grip of Anshela, was whining low at her sile. while the old woman, fully aware of the cris had followed after him to resume her hold. Ste had entered the narrow passage after her daughter, but being neither so supple nor so slim, she st in that place and could not go forward nor back Never was poor girl in a more puzzling plig1Her mother and Rover, herself and Miss Clinton. alike the objects of her solicitude, while the e was now within ear-shot; she could, in her d:peration, have gone out and faced a score of savages; but, luckily for all, the mother got buck into the main apartment, where Margaret Elsie with the information that the Indian hal returned to the front and was calling out for Rover. The two animals had, no doubt, recog nized each other in their own way; but the brave girl, taking some rope, put a muzzle upon the dog, and fastened him to chest till the diger should pass.

Their tormenter left their sight after a br space, and the three prisoners had now time to breathe and congratulate themselves on t narrow escape. Miss Clinton wept in perfectas, and would have been content to remain then tur

Not so Elsie, who saw that the danger

was not past. "He will return," she said, "and solve this mystery. He will bring Kiskan with him, and they will burn us out if they can. Á bring us to yield."

"I will die first in this spot, and sell my e dear, too," said Margaret. "I will prove t them how a soldier's daughter can defend beret when it comes to a battle. I fear death less this being in the hands of either Clifford or bs de ceitful servant. Go, Elsie, and leave me here t do as I have determined."

Elsie, who under the power of excitement w equal to any crisis, was above feeling the Lara of her responsibility and musing upon what t be the best plan, suffered broken sentences 12 escape from her, such as, "Why does he not come? Oh, for one word of that dark men the hollow. Let us watch.”

"And pray," said the pious Angelica, ww rocking herself backward and forward as if that motion was essential to her thought and consens ness. What she had always trusted to was with her, but in this new condition her mind had not yet obtained its balance. “Why does t the Dominie come? he always comes in distress."

Mammy, go out first. It is life or I will wait here and watch till you get through. Push these quilts and skins before you. Who knows where our next bed may be?"

"Look, Elsie, here," said Margaret; "what upon us. is that I see moving there on the other side of the death. glen? It looks like some animal, but it stands so still that I think it must be but a stone."

The mountain lass fixed her eye on the place, and after a few moments' examination she withdrew her eyes with a shudder, merely saying: "More trouble. The master devil is there himself, as I supposed."

"Kiskataam it is," said Miss Clinton, hiding her eyes in her hand, as she cried: "Oh, God help me; help us all in this hour of sorrow. Thou beholdest all things below. Look down, we beseech thee, and hear us calling out of the depth of misery, and out of the jaws of this death which is now ready to swallow us up. Save us, O Lord, else we perish."

Elsie stood amazed at the utterance of this prayer, and seemed to regard her friend as one inspired, while the old mother whispered to herself, "She prays good as the Dominie." All three became more composed and determined. Their enemy stood looking steadfastly towards them, as if he could see through the rocks; or it might be that he was surveying the fortress, before making a grand attack. To the left was the other fiend, who had, by appointment no doubt, met his master, with whom he was in consultation. The prisoners could guess his report, and judged too, probably, what would be their next move.

"They have sunk to the ground," said Margaret, "as if shot by an arrow; so noiselessly they fall." "Yes," was the response of her companion, "some one has appeared. Now God grant it may not be Teunis at this moment, or he is a lost man, and we lost with him. If they do the deed, revenge is my word;" and she grasped the gun firmly in her hand, as if the work were begun.

Sure enough, Teunis did arrive on the ground, and was watched eagerly from behind the tree, by those snaky eyes that moved unknown to him. "They will shoot him from behind," said Angelica. "Let me cry to him."

"No, mammy. No, they are only waiting to see where he goes. We must try and divert their eyes from him to something else. We must leave. Oh, for half an hour! He will come straight in here, and they will follow hard on his heels. Let us leave, and we can watch them from another point to more advantage. Once get us here, pent up, and they will soon have their whole pack

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Martin had fixed the back entrance after a fashion of his own. He was his own blacksmith as he was his own mason and carpenter. He had run two bolts, with lead, into a large flat stone which lodged into eyes that were bored into the rock. There it hung, so that it might be lifted up to the roof, and when let down it appeared in its natural place. It was a portcullis of a rude kind, but fully answered the purpose of shutting out all except those who knew the secret. Elsie remained behind as long as she could, in hopes of getting one word from Teunis, and revealing to him her purpose of retreating; but she plainly. saw that the spies were within hearing, and might succeed in preventing the escape of all four by some cunning manoeuvre, since Teunis was entirely ignorant of their presence. The two things she wished for most, and feared most, came at one moment. To flee was her only alternative, while there was yet hope. She let down the strong barricade, and lay behind it, to see and hear. She dreaded blood being spilt; and by the way of comforting herself, she shook a little dry. powder into the lock of the duck gun, putting the muzzle through a hole prepared for such a purpose. Here she lay, and saw all we have already described, until it grew quite dark, when realizing the possibility of being surrounded before the morning, she left, without accomplishing her desire of speaking one word to Teunis.

With no little effort Angelica found her way into the open air, where she soon revived sufficiently to lift a burden of bedding. Miss Clinton took her part, and Elsie more than would cover herself, and taking now the lead of the march in deep darkness, toward what was then called the Dog Pool, since named "THE FAWN'S LEAP,” they reached it without any interruption, except the obstacles which a rocky path always presents to tender feet.

The morning found the outcasts in a dejected state of mind, and with weary bodies. Had an enemy come upon them, he would have met with but a feeble resistance. Elsie soon perceived that this state of things would of itself soon destroy her hopes and the lives of her companions, so she set herself to work cheering them, and turning

their minds away from themselves and their troubles. Knowing the place she had chosen, and now somewhat acquainted with her ward, she began a plan of interesting her mind, by exciting her natural enthusiasm for mountain scenery. She had formerly been sheltered there during a dreadful storm of hail; and afterward, during a hot day in July, had sat under the rock that hung over the little fall. It lies in a narrow ravine, below the rocks where the Kauterskill comes down, and falls over the shelf into a basin a hundred feet still lower down. The whole is surrounded with trees and shrubs common to the region, and forms an amphitheatre of wildness and beauty seldom surpassed. It is not so capacious as the falls lying immediately back of Pine Orchard, but it has points of interest which surpass even that famous spot. Here, in the soft sand, which is as dry as sand can be out of the sun and never sprinkled with spray or rain, was the bed of Miss Clinton, and in which she slept that night more soundly than she had frequently slept in Shrewsbury Castle.

Elsie had made her own bed near that of Miss Clinton, but to her sleep did not come till far in the morning. When she awoke and looked around, the first object that caught her eye was her mother, sitting at a newly-kindled fire, with her cutty pipe in her mouth, seemingly taking as much comfort as she had seen her enjoying between the jambs of Hoogenhuisen, looking on the china pictures of Joseph and his brethren. The young English girl lay upon a large black bearskin, covered with a thick comforter, still asleep. "Let her lie still and sleep on; who knows when she may have another chance ?" And with that she began to make her own simple toilet, with a rock for her table and a small pool for a mirror. Margaret soon opened her eyes, in evident alarm at the scene, when rising on her elbow, her eyes fixed on her protectress, she soon regained her composure. After this, she cast one despairing look upward, uttering the name of God and mother.

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good angels attend upon the good always, bet our Dominie says a good conscience is the best guardian angel, and the surer sleeping-drops that any in the apothecary's store; and that a stara the breast gives more true light than all the millions in the sky. You know that I myself lose to watch the stars, and last night I looked up long, that I fell asleep dreaming that I he their feet marching over the pure pavement my head."

"Your Dominie must be a poet, or else he hi ́s read a book called The Mask of Comus,' w: 3 I feel suits my case too well. A lady lost her way, as I have mine, but she felt as I should fee, and as your minister tells you is best.

"These thoughts may startle well, but not astound The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended By a strong-sided champion, conscience.' "Did you hear the stream, how it murmured around our camp, and then roared off in tre distance? It put me in mind of a crowded 1'catre, just before the curtain rises, when the shunt of applause succeeds the appearance of the favore actor. I lay listening till it seemed to sulten down into the low crooning sound of my od Scottish nurse, when she used to sing me to sleep on her bosom. That put me in mind of home, and I cried myself to sleep."

"Rise, my lady," said the kind listener, ;erceiving the necessity of action," and let me dress you. The cold air must be kept away, and here is my mother's oak-leaved quilt, which I w 'l n around you as the Indian squaws do their blark ets." And with that Elsie threw the coverkt over the shoulders of the delicate damsel, on when the air of heaven had scarcely ever blown ruchy. Her tall and graceful form was not hidden is "e particolored shawl, and when her present Live maid took the handkerchief which a Dutch skier had brought from India as a present to her grand. mother, tying it around the waist of Margaret, de appeared in full dress, smiling, and wondering what her London friends would say were she ta walk in among them in this mask, fresh from he mountains. Lady Grantham would hold user hands, and declare that nothing could be u. re distingué and picturesque.

"Do you see how that stream lears & Ra among the rocks?" was the quiet question of firs kind companion, all the time anxious to divert it thoughts of the stranger from herself and tr

her home. "Did you ever see a lighter foot than that is, trusting to the air so confidently?''

"No, never; and yet I have seen airy creatures who seemed more the creations of fancy than of reality. But how beautifully the whole stream. loses itself in the haze, which covers it like a veil thinner than the purest gossamer."

"And there, again, Miss Clinton, see how it trips away down yonder, coming out of its misty curtains fresh and fair, like a child running to its mother's arms."

This was unfortunate, though kindly intended and finely said, for the poor exile, taking up the thought, ran off in a rhapsody of affection.

"Ah, my dear Elsie, why have you touched on that string, to remind me of my joyful days, sending me back here to my sorrow? My mother is down there, just where that little stream is going to embrace the river. Why might I not follow its course and find her? Tell me, could I not go, keeping by its side? Would I not come to the river with it, and find my way to the vessel? I can imagine it waiting for me at this moment." "You would find the rocks too hard for your tender feet, my dear lady," were the kind words of the good Angelica, "and the windings and falls are more than you dream of."

"Oh, there seems to be nothing direct in this world. How crooked has been my way these few days past! Why might I not take a winding course with that stream, and come out in the end all well?"

"Straight roads are not always the best. Our Dominie scolds the path-masters every summer because they will go over a hill when going around it would be easier for their cattle. This stream we are now watching is dealt kindly by, for it is let down step by step, and in a far, roundabout way. You saw the two ponds that we lay beside yesterday-no, the day before, I forget myself. They form the fountain-head. About two miles below, the waters take a far higher leap than they do here. The further down it goes, the fall is less and less, till it becomes as smooth as your cheek, and as quiet as your old nurse's voice when she found you fairly asleep in your cradle. The Dominie says that his young folk go off like the Kauterskill up here, and end like the quiet Kaatskill, in their old age joining the great river rolling into the sea."

"And is this the only stream in these hills ?"

was the inquiry of Miss Clinton, who now began to forget herself and her troubles. "If it be a solitary thing, it is far from showing the signs of sadness."

"This is not the only stream of the mountains hereabout, for there is another spring-head not far from this, but the stream runs in the opposite direction. My father followed that when he was young. He says it follows the backbone of the mountain, going down into old Schoharie, then through the Mohawk country, joining that river till it meets the Hudson, and mingles with these very waters we are now looking at, after all that wandering life."

"What a history you are telling me!" said Margaret, pleased with the fancy which arose in her mind. "How like to some histories I could

tell myself."

"I remember what you told me when we hid ourselves beside the little lakes, and I am almost sorry I spoke just now; but the truth will come out, Miss Clinton."

heart. other.

"That is true, and was no fault of your honest Bertram and I were born near to each He went off to the sea when he was a boy and we met again after the separation, on the Hudson, where these two streams you speak of are mingling in one great river."

"Come and have something to eat," was the call of the careful mother; "leave off these sorrowful tales, lookin' into the water, shedding salt tears."

Upon a flat stone standing on the shelving rock that hung over the fall, were placed bread, boiled eggs, and dried venison. A cow, which came from the herd, gave them milk; the whole made an excellent breakfast, of which they partook heartily and gratefully. The mountain air gave them a keen appetite, and at the close of the meal Elsie lifted a cup of water, of which she drank; then offering as much to her companion, they were ready for whatever might betide.

"Come now," said the mountain lass, "and I will lead you to my favorite walk. And with their arms around each other, they went up the side of the glen towards the north. Turning around to her mother, Elsie said, "Mammy, the wildcats mew if anything happens."

"Yaw! yaw!" said the careful dame; "wildcats plenty all over. But I will mind."

"Are there enemies near us that you leave the

signal with the sentinel? I had almost believed the danger to be all below, in that hollow, mysterious place we were in yesterday."

"You are too well acquainted with the customs of war, Miss Clinton, not to know that safety lies in constantly watching. But let us not talk of danger till we see it face to face. Let us walk; and please not to turn around till I tell you, for I want to point to what I think is worth seeing." When they had advanced about half a mile above the fall, Elsie called, "Now turn and look."

The sight was so overwhelming that Margaret was for a few minutes in speechless rapture. High Peak, that majestic pyramid, stood out in bold relief against the southern sky, surrounded by numerous hills, great and small, among which he rose like a king attended by his suite, who looked up to his crown with awe and deligh. The October sun had spread a mysterious haze over the whole scene, which expanded rather than hid its greatness.

"What do you see there?" said the truly proud mountain damsel, proud of her home scenery.

"My head is dizzy. Let me alone till I get over my bewilderment, and can comprehend what is before me. Oh what a stage is there for superior beings to descend upon, and see the actions of puny mortals! Elsie, have you ever known any one to ascend that height?"

"Oh, yes; I have been up there myself more than once. But it humbles one. I never feel myself so small as when I stand on that eminence, and think what a mote am I. And yet I have felt my soul expanding above it all, when I knew that I was an immortal creature, redeemed by the Son of God."

"That is like mounting from the foot of Jacob's ladder to the top of it at a bound. I am down at the bottom yet. When I was in the city of Rome, they took me into the great church there called St. Peter's; and Elsie, do you know that when some one beside me said that he felt himself so small that he could sink, I said, presumptuous thing that I was, My heart swells so that I fill all this house. You must have felt up there as I did in Rome."

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"Four times a year, Miss Clinton, do I come up to this place, and look up; in June, when everything is in the greenest lustre; in August, when all is so rich and full; in October, when those various colors are painted by the hand of nature, and again in winter."

"Now I find out the cause of my conitsa, Elsie; that wondrous variety of colors. Th what is called the fall and Indian summer, wen the foliage changes. It is a new thing to me English eyes."

"And have you no fall in England—no Inf a′′ summer there?" said the amazed girl, wan hat less idea of the difference of climate tha travelled companion. "Then I do not think » much of your great island after all. No fall' to Indian summer! What have you?"

"England is always green like your June, Els e, but what would they give there for one gi-pe of that mountain, clad in trees to the very crow", and every one of these trees in different colors, from the richest purple to the brightest yel and the whole robe intermingled with piler! deep green. But tell me, what is that si covering all the ground so dark in the red ?"

"We call that the laurel, which is spread a over the mountains, as you see beneath our feet But look, here is my favorite flower at this tire of the year, the sumach. Let me put it into your hair, for a feather; and tell me if ever the < Quiza of England had one so rich?”

"Bring me other two, and I will show won the Prince of Wales' feather. There now, a sider of the forty-second regiment would fight wa more ardor for his native hills, than he does even now, with the blood cockade in his bonnet. Dt. what a deep and pure scarlet! Never, ever would they believe me, were I to tell of it just as I see it in your hands."

It was thus that Elsie led the enthusiastre z to forget her troubles. Romantic in disposten, and full of life, the picturesque in nature and costume captivated her so that she forgot every thing for the pleasure of the present moment, light as the bird that leaped from branch to branch.

"I have been thinking," said Margaret, att a pause, "how happy you must be, when there's no trouble below, on a day like this, and on friend Teunis with you. For I am all the more happy in the company of those I love best, and you are of the same mind too, I am sure."

"Yes, there are days which we remember always, when we were too full of happiness. Tie heart, like a cup full of joy, surges over the htm and we share it with others. I have had my share at all seasons. This time of the vers always the finest to me, though not the grandes."

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