a young and helpless brood, unsupported by the exertions
of those, whom he had already brought to a state of maturity. The spirit
of insubordination, which emanated from the unfortunate Asa, had spread
among his juniors; and the squatter had been made painfully to remember
the time when, in the wantonness of his youth and vigour, he had,
reversing the order of the brutes, cast off his own aged and failing
parents, to enter into the world unshackled and free. But the danger had
now abated, for a time at least; and if his authority was not restored
with all its former influence, it was admitted to exist, and to maintain
its ascendency a little longer.

It is true that his slow-minded sons, even while they submitted to the
impressions of the recent event, had glimmerings of terrible distrusts,
as to the manner in which their elder brother had met with his death.
There were faint and indistinct images in the minds of two or three of
the oldest, which portrayed the father himself, as ready to imitate the
example of Abraham, without the justification of the sacred authority
which commanded the holy man to attempt the revolting office. But then,
these images were so transient, and so much obscured in intellectual
mists, as to leave no very strong impressions, and the tendency of the
whole transaction, as we have already said, was rather to strengthen
than to weaken the authority of Ishmael.

In this disposition of mind, the party continued their route towards
the place whence they had that morning issued on a search which had been
crowned with so melancholy a success. The long and fruitless march which
they had made under the direction of Abiram, the discovery of the body,
and its subsequent interment, had so far consumed the day, that by the
time their steps were retraced across the broad track of waste which lay
between the grave of Asa and the rock, the sun had fallen far below his
meridian altitude. The hill had gradually risen as they approached, like
some tower emerging from the bosom of the sea, and when within a mile,
the minuter objects that crowned its height came dimly into view.

"It will be a sad meeting for the girls!" said Ishmael, who, from time
to time, did not cease to utter something which he intended should be
consolatory to the bruised spirit of his partner. "Asa was much regarded
by all the young; and seldom failed to bring in from his hunts something
that they loved."

"He did, he did," murmured Esth