She liked not the
protracted absence of Asa. Too fearless herself to have hesitated an
instant on her own account about crossing the dark abyss, into which
she now sat looking with longing eyes, her busy imagination, in
obedience to this inextinguishable sentiment, began to conjure
nameless evils on account of her son. It might be true, as Abiram had
hinted, that he had become a captive to some of the tribes who were
hunting the buffaloe in that vicinity, or even a still more dreadful
calamity might have befallen. So thought the mother, while silence and
darkness lent their aid to the secret impulses of nature.
Agitated by these reflections, which put sleep at defiance, Esther
continued at her post, listening with that sort of acuteness which is
termed instinct in the animals a few degrees below her in the scale of
intelligence, for any of those noises which might indicate the
approach of footsteps. At length, her wishes had an appearance of
being realised, for the long desired sounds were distinctly audible,
and presently she distinguished the dim form of a man at the base of
the rock.
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