was dissolved. An expression of the deepest awe overspread his
countenance, his lips moved, but emitted no sound, and cautiously as
he had advanced be returned to the canoe, and was soon swallowed up in
the darkness.

The abstraction of Holden must have been deep and long, for upon
recovering from his reverie, the reptile was gone. Without his
consciousness it had come, and without his consciousness departed; and
when he laid the Bible, in which he had been reading, upon the table,
he knew not either the danger he had escaped, or the means by which it
had been averted.

Nor let the conduct of Ohquamehud excite surprise. An American Indian,
he was susceptible to the influence of the legends and traditions of
his race. Among them are some inculcating a superstitious reverence
for certain animals. The bear, for instance, is regarded by some
tribes as a sort of relation, and when the necessity of hunger compels
them to kill him, they apologize, and beg him not to be angry. The
rattlesnake again is an object of great respect. Supplied with a
deadly venom that makes him the most formidable of enemies, he never
attacks unless first injured, and then, if he can reach his foe, his
vengeance is sure. On his trail he disdains concealment, but with the
rattles nature has provided to announce his approach, apprises all,
that they may remove themselves out of his way. Indeed, he comprehends
within himself those qualities most valued by the Indians, and is the
type of a brave warrior. When, therefore, at such an hour and such a
place, the reptile made its appearance, and first darting its fiery
glances at the Pequot, quietly and, as if scorning and defying the
danger, laid itself caressingly on the limbs of Holden, it seemed to
the astonished Indian that the snake knew his purpose, and angrily