under
his collier's cap, came to the spot on which the fire had been so lately
visible, marked as it was by a scathed oak-tree, there appeared not on
the heath the slightest vestiges of what he had seen. The moss and wild
flowers were unscorched, and the branches of the oak-tree, which had so
lately appeared enveloped in wreaths of flame and smoke, were moist with
the dews of midnight.

George returned to his hut with trembling steps, and, arguing like his
elder brother, resolved to say nothing of what he had seen, lest he
should awake in Martin that daring curiosity which he almost deemed to
be allied with impiety.

It was now Martin's turn to watch. The household cock had given his
first summons, and the night was well-nigh spent. Upon examining the
state of the furnace in which the wood was deposited in order to its
being coked or charred, he was surprised to find that the fire had not
been sufficiently maintained; for in his excursion and its consequences,
George had forgot the principal object of his watch. Martin's first
thought was to call up the slumberers; but observing that both his
brothers slept unwontedly deep and heavily, he respected their repose,
and set himself to supply the furnace with fuel without requiring
their aid. What he heaped upon it was apparently damp and unfit for the
purpose, for the fire seemed rather to decay than revive. Martin next
went to collect some boughs from a stack which had been carefully cut
and dried for this purpose; but, when he returned, he found the fire
totally extinguished. This was a serious evil, and threatened them
with loss of their trade for more than one day. The vexed and mortified
watchman set about to strike a light in order to rekindle the fire
but the tinder was moist, and his labour proved in this respect also
ineffectual. He was now about to call up his brothers, for circumstances
seemed to be pressing, when flashes of light glimmered not only through
the window, but through every crevice of the rudely built hut, and
summoned him to behold the same apparition which had before alarmed
the successive watches of his brethren. His first idea was, that the
Muhllerhaussers, their rivals in trade, and with whom they had had many
quarrels, might have encroached upon their bounds for the purpose of
pirating their wood; and he resolved to awake his brothers, and
be revenged on them for their audacity. But a short reflection and
observation on the gestures and manne