"I would the stranger had found some other shelter in which to pass his
short resting season. That he hath made free with my flock, and that he
hath administered to his hunger at some cost, when a single asking would
have made him welcome to the best that the owner of the Wish-Tori-Wish can
command, are truths that may not be denied. Still is he mortal man, as a
goodly appetite hath proven, even should our belief in Providence so far
waver as to harbor doubts of its unwillingness to suffer beings of
injustice to wander in our forms and substance. I tell thee, Ruth, that
the nag will be needed for to-morrow's service, and that our father will
give but ill thanks should we leave it to make a bed on this cold
hill-side. Go to thy rest and to thy prayers, trembler; I will close the
postern with all care. Fear not; the stranger is of human wants, and his
agency to do evil must needs be limited by human power."

"I fear none of white blood, nor of Christian parentage: the murderous
heathen is in our fields."

"Thou dreamest, Ruth!"

"'Tis not a dream. I have seen the glowing eye-balls of a savage. Sleep
was little like to come over me, when set upon a watch like this. I
thought me that the errand was of unknown character, and that our father
was exceedingly aged, and that perchance his senses might be duped, and
how an obedient son ought not to be exposed.--Thou knowest, Heathcote,
that I could not look upon the danger of my children's father with
indifference, and I followed to the nut-tree hillock."

"To the nut-tree! It was not prudent in thee--but the postern?"