When he
found himself in the open air, he looked about him, in order to
gather, if possible, some evidences of his future fate, from the
countenances of those gathered round. Seeing every where grave but
composed features, and meeting in no eye any expression that
threatened immediate violence, the miserable man began to revive; and,
by the time he was seated in the wagon, his artful faculties were
beginning to plot the expedients of parrying the just resentment of
his kinsmen, or, if these should fail him, the means of escaping from
a punishment that his forebodings told him would be terrible.
Throughout the whole of these preparations Ishmael rarely spoke. A
gesture, or a glance of the eye, served to indicate his pleasure to
his sons, and with these simple methods of communication, all parties
appeared content. When the signal was made to proceed, the squatter
threw his rifle into the hollow of his arm, and his axe across his
shoulder, taking the lead as usual. Esther buried herself in the wagon
which contained her daughters; the young men took their customary
places among the cattle, or nigh the teams, and the whole proceeded,
at their ordinary, dull, but unremitted gait.
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