The flashing flame gleamed from one sun-
burnt countenance to another, exhibiting every variety of expression,
from the juvenile simplicity of the children, mingled as it was with a
shade of the wildness peculiar to their semi-barbarous lives, to the
dull and immovable apathy that dwelt on the features of the squatter,
when unexcited. Occasionally a gust of wind would fan the embers; and,
as a brighter light shot upwards, the little solitary tent was seen as
it were suspended in the gloom of the upper air. All beyond was
enveloped, as usual at that hour, in an impenetrable body of darkness.
"It is unaccountable that Asa should choose to be out of the way at
such a time as this," Esther pettishly observed. "When all is finished
and to rights, we shall have the boy coming up, grumbling for his
meal, and hungry as a bear after his winter's nap. His stomach is as
true as the best clock in Kentucky, and seldom wants winding up to
tell the time, whether of day or night. A desperate eater is Asa, when
a-hungered by a little work!"
Ishmael looked sternly around the circle of his silent sons, as if to
see whether any among them would presume to say aught in favour of the
absent delinquent.
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