More than half a year had elapsed, between the time when the Indian boy
had been found lurking in the valley of the Heathcotes, and that day when
he was first permitted to go into the forest, fettered by no other
restraint than the moral tie which the owner of the valley either knew, or
fancied, would not fail to cause him to return to a bondage he had found
so irksome. It was April; but it was April as the month was known a
century ago in Connecticut, and as it is even now so often found to
disappoint all expectations of that capricious season of the year. The
weather had returned suddenly and violently to the rigor of winter. A thaw
had been succeeded by a storm of snow and sleet, and the interlude of the
spring-time of blossoms had terminated with a biting gale from the
north-west, which had apparently placed a permanent seal on the lingering
presence of a second February.
On the morning that Content led his followers into the forest, they issued
from the postern clad in coats of skin. Their lower limbs were protected
by the coarse leggings which they had worn in so many previous hunts,
during the past winter, if that might be called past which had returned,
weakened but little of its keenness, and bearing all the outward marks of
January.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192