Go thou in quest of thy
offspring; while I tarry here, in pursuit of that which is better;
viz. an insight into the arcana of Nature's volume."
The woman answered with a hollow, unnatural, and scornful laugh, and
even her heavy sons, as they slowly passed the seat of the already
abstracted naturalist, did not disdain to manifest their contempt in
smiles. In a few minutes the train mounted the nearest eminence, and,
as it turned the rounded acclivity, the Doctor was left to pursue his
profitable investigations in entire solitude.
Another half-hour passed, during which Esther continued to advance, on
her seemingly fruitless search. Her pauses, however, were becoming
frequent, and her looks wandering and uncertain, when footsteps were
heard clattering through the bottom, and at the next instant a buck
was seen to bound up the ascent, and to dart from before their eyes,
in the direction of the naturalist. So sudden and unlooked for had
been the passage of the animal, and so much had he been favoured by
the shape of the ground, that before any one of the foresters had time
to bring his rifle to his shoulder, it was already beyond the range of
a bullet.
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