Duties were assigned, in the event of alarm, to the
feeblest bodies and the faintest hearts; and during the moments which
preceded the visit of her husband, Ruth had been endeavoring to commit
to her female subordinates the several necessary charges that usage, and
more particularly the emergency of the hour, appeared so imperiously to
require.
"Hasten, Charity, to the block," she said; "and look into the condition of
the buckets and the ladders, that should the heathen drive us to its
shelter, provision of water, and means of retreat, be not wanting in our
extremity; and hie thee, Faith, into the upper apartments, to see that no
lights may direct their murderous aim at any in the chambers. Thoughts
come tardily, when the arrow or the bullet hath already taken its flight!
And now, that the first assault is over, Mark, and we may hope to meet the
wiles of the enemy by some prudence of our own, thou mayst go forth to thy
father. It would have been tempting Providence too rashly, hadst thou
rushed, unbidden and uninformed, into the first hurry of the danger.
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