"And I will make oath or declaration of any sort, lawful or conscientious,
that he came not within the postern when it was opened by my own hand,"
returned Eben Dudley. "I told off the number of the party as you passed,
and right sure am I that no red skin entered."
"Canst thou tell us aught of the lad?" demanded Ruth, quick to take the
alarm on a subject that had so long exercised her care, and given food to
her imagination.
"Nothing. With me he hath not been since the turn of the day. I have not
seen the face of living man from that moment, unless in truth one of
mysterious character, whom I met in the forest, may be so called."
The manner in which the woodsman spoke was too serious and too natural,
not to give birth in his auditors to some of his own gravity. Perhaps the
appearance of the Puritan, at that moment, aided in quieting the levity
that had been uppermost in the minds of the young men; for, it is certain,
that when he entered, a deeper and a general curiosity came over the
countenances of all present. Content waited a moment in respectful
silence, till his father had moved slowly through the circle, and then he
prepared himself to look further into an affair that began to assume the
appearance of matter worthy of investigation.
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