Gaut Gurley; Or, the Trappers of Umbagog: A Tale of Border LifeThompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce)
General
Gaut Gurley; Or, the Trappers of Umbagog: A Tale of Border Life
Thompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction; Maine -- Fiction; Trappers -- Fiction
To her great relief, however, she now soon reached and
shot into the still waters of the stream, and this trouble, at least, was
over. Here, after passing in out of sight of the lake, she drew up her oar,
and paused to reflect and conclude what should be her next movement; when
Claud, whose head was pillowed in the bow of the boat, and whose eye was
resting tenderly on her downcast countenance, soon read her perplexity, and
again asked to be informed of all that had happened, and the object of her
present movement. She told him,--with such reservations as maidenly modesty
and pride suggested,--she told him all she had seen, and in conclusion
proposed, as their enemy might ambush them, and as it was now drawing
towards night, and the lake would not be quiet enough for some hours, at
least, to permit them to proceed, that they should row up the river till
they found an eligible spot, and encamp for the night. To this Claud
readily assented; and they again set forth up the gentle stream, that, as
before intimated, here came in from the southeast; and, after proceeding
some distance, the anxious eye of the maiden fell on a place on the left
bank, where a temporary shelter could easily be rigged up, under the
wide-spreading and low-set limbs of a thick-topped evergreen, which, of
itself, would be ample protection against the dews of heaven. Drawing up
the canoe on land near the tree, in the same manner as at the island, she
proceeded to gather large quantities of fine hemlock boughs, and dry,
elastic mosses, arrange them under the tree, in the form of bed and pillow,
and over the whole to spread Claud's blanket; thus making a couch as safe
and comfortable as ever received the limbs of a suffering invalid. Upon
this, partly by his own exertions and partly by her assistance, he was
then, without much difficulty, soon transferred from the canoe; when, with
his light hatchet (she having brought all his implements along with him in
the boat), she soon erected neat, closely-woven wicker walls of boughs,
from the ground to the limbs above, on both sides, providing within one of
them a space for herself. She then brought fuel, kindled a small fire in
front, and took her position at his side, to be ready for such ministering
offices as his case might seem to require. She found that he had again
fallen into a profound slumber, which she at first regarded as a favorable
omen; and, in the conscious security of the spot, in the belief that he had
received none of the injuries she had apprehended from the motion of the
boat, and, above all, in the indulgence of that overweening pride of
affection which covets all pains and sacrifices for the loved one, she felt
a satisfaction which was almost happiness, in her situation. But it was not
destined to be of very long duration. She at length began to perceive a
gradual reddening of his cheeks, and then, soon after, an increasing
shortness of respiration, and a general restlessness of the system. Alarmed
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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