The squatter was troubled, and at length he yielded in part
to the petitions of the criminal. His final purpose was not altered,
though he changed the means. "Abner," he said, "mount the rock, and
look on every side, that we may be sure none are nigh."
While his nephew was obeying this order, gleams of reviving hope were
seen shooting across the quivering features of the kidnapper. The
report was favourable, nothing having life, the retiring teams
excepted, was to be seen. A messenger was, however, coming from the
latter, in great apparent haste. Ishmael awaited its arrival. He
received from the hands of one of his wondering and frighted girls a
fragment of that book, which Esther had preserved with so much care.
The squatter beckoned the child away, and placed the leaves in the
hands of the criminal.
"Eest'er has sent you this," he said, "that, in your last moments, you
may remember God."
"Bless her, bless her! a good and kind sister has she been to me. But
time must be given, that I may read; time, my brother, time!"
"Time shall not be wanting.
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