Perhaps what the enlightened
soldier took for the delusion of mistaken opinion did actually occur,
for who has returned from that unknown world to explain by what forms,
and in what manner, he was introduced into its awful precincts?
Without pretending to explain what must ever be a mystery to the
quick, we shall simply relate facts as they occurred.
The trapper had remained nearly motionless for an hour. His eyes,
alone, had occasionally opened and shut. When opened, his gaze seemed
fastened on the clouds, which hung around the western horizon,
reflecting the bright colours, and giving form and loveliness to the
glorious tints of an American sunset. The hour--the calm beauty of the
season--the occasion, all conspired to fill the spectators with solemn
awe. Suddenly, while musing on the remarkable position, in which he
was placed, Middleton felt the hand, which he held, grasp his own with
incredible power, and the old man, supported on either side by his
friends, rose upright to his feet. For a moment, he looked about him,
as if to invite all in presence to listen (the lingering remnant of
human frailty), and then, with a fine military elevation of the head,
and with a voice, that might be heard in every part of that numerous
assembly the word--
"Here!"
A movement so entirely unexpected, and the air of grandeur and
humility, which were so remarkably united in the mien of the trapper,
together with the clear and uncommon force of his utterance, produced
a short period of confusion in the faculties of all present.
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