as he might from its pages.

"And now, Abiram White," said the squatter, when his sons had descended
from completing this arrangement, "I give you a last and solemn asking.
Death is before you in two shapes. With this rifle can your misery be
cut short, or by that cord, sooner or later, must you meet your end."

"Let me yet live! Oh, Ishmael, you know not how sweet life is, when the
last moment draws so nigh!"

"'Tis done," said the squatter, motioning for his assistants to follow
the herds and teams. "And now, miserable man, that it may prove a
consolation to your end, I forgive you my wrongs, and leave you to your
God."

Ishmael turned and pursued his way across the plain, at his ordinary
sluggish and ponderous gait. Though his head was bent a little towards
the earth, his inactive mind did not prompt him to cast a look behind.
Once, indeed, he thought he heard his name called, in tones that were a
little smothered, but they failed to make him pause.

At the spot where he and Esther had conferred, he reached the boundary
of the visible horizon from the rock. Here he stopped, and ventured a
glance in the direction of the place he had just quitted. The sun was
near dipping into the plains beyond, and its last rays lighted the naked
branches of the willow. He saw the ragged outline of the whole drawn
against the glowing heavens, and he even traced the still upright form
of the being he had left to his misery. Turning the roll of the swell,
he proceeded with the feelings of one, who had been suddenly and
violently separated from a recent confederate, for ever.

Within a mile, the squatter overtook his teams. His sons had found a
place suited to the encampment for the night, and merely awaited his
approach to confirm their choice. Few words were necessary to express
his acquiescence. Every thing passed in a silence more general and
remarkable than ever. The chidings of Esther were not heard among her
young, or if heard, they were more in the tones of softened admonition,
than in her usual, upbraiding, key.

No questions nor explanations passed between the husband and his wife.
It was only as the latter was about to withdraw among her children, for
the night, that the former saw her taking a furtive look at the pan
of his rifle. Ishmael bade his sons seek their rest, announcing his
intention to look to the safety of the camp in person. When all was
still, he walked out upon the prairie, with a sort of sensation that