In such darkness, and with the murmur of the blasts and the rustling of
boughs to drown the noise of his footsteps, Nathan no longer feared to
pursue his way; and rising boldly to his feet, drawing his blanket close
around him, and assuming, as before, the gait of a savage, he strode
forwards, and in less than a minute, was upon the public square,--if such
we may call it,--the vacant area in the centre of the village, where
stood the rude shed of bark and boughs, supported by a circular range of
posts, all open, except at top, to the weather, which custom had
dignified with the title of Council-house. The bounds of the square were
marked by clusters of cabins placed with happy contempt of order and
symmetry, and by trees and bushes that grew among and behind them,
particularly at the foot of the hill on one side, and, on the other,
along the borders of the river; which, in the pauses of the gusts, could
be heard sweeping hard by over a broken and pebbly channel. Patches of
bushes might even be seen growing in places on the square itself; and
here and there were a few tall trees, remnants of the old forest which
had once overshadowed the scene towering aloft, and sending forth on the
blast such spiritual murmurs, and wild oraculous whispers, as were wont,
in ancient days, to strike an awe through soothsayers and devotees in the
sacred groves of Dodona.

Through this square, looking solitude and desolation together, lay the
path of the spy; and he trode it without fear, although it offered an
obstruction that might well have daunted the zeal of one less crafty and
determined. In its centre, and near the Council-house, he discovered a
fire, now burning low, but still, as the breeze, time by time, fanned the
decaying embers into flame, sending forth light enough to reveal the
spectacle of at least a dozen savages stretched in slumber around it,
with as many ready rifles stacked round a post hard by. Their appearance,
without affrighting, greatly perplexed the man of peace; who, though at
first disposed to regard them as a kind of guard, to whom had been
committed the charge of the village and the peace of the community,
during the uproar and terrors of the debauch, found reason, upon more
mature inspection, to consider them a band from some neighbouring
village, perhaps an out-going war party, which, unluckily for himself,
had tarried at the village to share the hospitalities, and take part in
the revels, of its inhabita