"Ah! here it is!" cried Aunt Jenny. "Dis is de place, mas'r, where ole Habakkuk live for a long time, 'cause he would not be under Mas'r Thornton, when ole missus die. Mas'r Thornton could never find him out; and we, none of us, never say a word. De ole man build it all himself wid his own hands. A mighty smart man he were, and made himself quite comferable here. I guess his ole bedstead here still; so dat you and Miss Bessy can lie down and rest." By this time we had arrived at the door--and Jenny was about to open it, when I suggested that it might be better to have some light before we went in, if she had the means of procuring any. "O dear, yes," said Jenny. "I brought away de flint and steel. You give me drop of gunpowder, mas'r, on de wick of dis candle, and we'll soon have a light." I did as she desired; and, after lifting Bessy from her horse, I took the candle, which by this time was lighted, and went into the cabin. I must say it had a much less desolate appearance than the house of Mr. Thornton. The old man who constructed it must have had no little skill, taste, and perseverance. He had divided it into two rooms; patched up all the crevices between the logs with moss and mud; formed two shutters for the windows, and a tight-fitting door; and had, apparently with his own hands, constructed from the branches of the trees, and the fallen logs in the neighbourhood, four seats and a table in the outer room, and a bedstead, somewhat in the shape of a knife-tray, in the inner one. Though so near the Swamp, there was no appearance of damp about the hut; and I heartily rejoiced, notwithstanding all its roughness, that Bessy would have such a place of shelter for the night. She and Aunt Jenny had by this time, followed me in; and, seating the dear girl in one of the rude chairs, I pushed back the hair from her forehead, gazing in her face to see what change all the fatigues and annoyances she had undergone had made in her. She looked pale and fatigued certainly, but not ill; and comprehending my anxiety, she took my hand gently in hers, saying,-- "Oh, I shall do very well, dear Richard. A few days' rest and quiet is all I want; and then I shall be as well and saucy again as ever. But you had better look to the horses for fear they should ran away." They had had too much work lately for that, and were still standing with drooping heads at the door of the hut when I went out. Taking off the saddles and bridles, I easily contrived to hamper their feet with the stirrup-leathers; and then, leaving them to provide for themselves during the night, I returned into the cabin and closed the door. It had, unfortunately, no lock, bolt, or bar; but I had already made up my mind to sit up and watch, so that the want of fastenings did not so much matter.