Ishmael looked round upon the motionless and heavily loaded vehicles
with his teeth firmly compressed, cast a glance at the amazed and
helpless group of children, which clustered around their sullen but
desponding mother, and walked out upon the open land, as if he found
the air of the encampment too confined. He was followed by several of
the men, who were attentive observers, watching the dark expression of
his eye as the index of their own future movements. The whole
proceeded in profound and moody silence to the summit of the nearest
swell, whence they could command an almost boundless view of the naked
plains. Here nothing was visible but a solitary buffaloe, that gleaned
a meagre subsistence from the decaying herbage, at no great distance,
and the ass of the physician, who profited by his freedom to enjoy a
meal richer than common.
"Yonder is one of the creatures left by the villains to mock us," said
Ishmael, glancing his eye towards the latter, "and that the meanest of
the stock. This is a hard country to make a crop in, boys; and yet
food must be found to fill many hungry mouths!"
"The rifle is better than the hoe, in such a place as this," returned
the eldest of his sons, kicking the hard and thirsty soil on which he
stood, with an air of contempt.
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