In the mean time, Ruth summoned her assistants, and hastened to discharge
the duty which had just been prescribed. Water was cast freely on all the
fires, and, as the still raging conflagration continued to give far more
light than was either necessary or safe, care was taken to extinguish any
torch or candle that, in the hurry of alarm, might have been left to
moulder in its socket, throughout the extensive range of the dwellings and
the offices.
Chapter XIV.
"Thou mild, sad mother--
Quit him not so soon!
Mother, in mercy, stay!
Despair and death are with him; and canst thou,
With that kind, earthward look, go leave him now?"
Dana.
When these precautions were taken, the females returned to their several
look-outs; and Ruth, whose duty it was in moments of danger to exercise a
general superintendence, was left to her meditations and to such
watchfulness as her fears might excite. Quitting the inner rooms, she
approached the door that communicated with the court, and for a moment
lost the recollection of her immediate cares in a view of the imposing
scene by which she was surrounded.
Pages:
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301