us design of his enemies. He now felt some little concern about
his daughters, and perhaps as much about the canoe; but, on the whole,
this uncertainty did not much disturb him, as he had the reliance
already mentioned on the intelligence of Judith.

It was the season of the shortest nights, and it was not long before the
deep obscurity which precedes the day began to yield to the returning
light. If any earthly scene could be presented to the senses of man that
might soothe his passions and temper his ferocity, it was that which
grew upon the eyes of Hutter and Hurry as the hours advanced, changing
night to morning. There were the usual soft tints of the sky, in which
neither the gloom of darkness nor the brilliancy of the sun prevails,
and under which objects appear more unearthly, and we might add holy,
than at any other portion of the twenty four hours. The beautiful and
soothing calm of eventide has been extolled by a thousand poets, and yet
it does not bring with it the far-reaching and sublime thoughts of the
half hour that precedes the rising of a summer sun. In the one case the
panorama is gradually hid from the sight, while in the other its objects
start out from the unfolding picture, first dim and misty; then marked
in, in solemn background; next seen in the witchery of an increasing, a
thing as different as possible from the decreasing twilight, and finally
mellow, distinct and luminous, as the rays of the great centre of light
diffuse themselves in the atmosphere. The hymns of birds, too, have
no moral counterpart in the retreat to the roost, or the flight to the
nest, and these invariably accompany the advent of the day, until the
appearance of the sun itself--

"Bathes in deep joy, the land and sea."

All this, however, Hutter and Hurry witnessed without experiencing any
of that calm delight which the spectacle is wont to bring, when the
thoughts are just and the aspirations pure. They not only witnessed
it, but they witnessed it under circumstances that had a tendency to
increase its power, and to heighten its charms. Only one solitary object
became visible in the returning light that had received its form or uses
from human taste or human desires, which as often deform as beautify
a landscape. This was the castle, all the rest being native, and fresh
from the hand of God. That singular residence, too, was in keeping with
the natural objects of the view, starting out from the gloom, quaint,
picturesqu