"This putteth Faith something in arrears," returned he who has been called
Ensign, and who was no other than the reader's old acquaintance Eben
Dudley, preferred to that station in the train-band of the valley. "The
heart of my brother Reuben will be gladdened by these tidings, when he
shall return from the scout."
"There will be occasion for thankfulness, since he will find seven beneath
a roof where he left but four!"
"I will close the bargain with the young captain for the mountain lot,
this very day!" muttered Dudley, like one suddenly convinced of the
prudence of a long-debated measure. "Seven pounds of the colony money
is no usurer's price, after all, for a hundred acres of
heavily-timbered land; and they in full view of a settlement where
boys come three at a time!"
The equestrian stopped his horse, and regarding his companion intently and
with a significant air, he answered--
"Thou hast now fallen on the clue of an important mystery, Ensign Dudley.
This continent was created with a design. The fact is apparent by its
riches, its climate, its magnitude, its facilities of navigation, and
chiefly in that it hath been left undiscovered until the advanced
condition of society hath given opportunity and encouragement to men of a
certain degree of merit, to adventure in its behalf.
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