gs are downward to
the darkness instead of heavenward, and who, could they but extinguish
the lights which God hath kindled for us, would count the midnight
gloom their chiefest glory.

As the cynic spoke several of the party were startled by a gleam of
red splendor that showed the huge shapes of the surrounding mountains
and the rock-bestrewn bed of the turbulent river, with an illumination
unlike that of their fire, on the trunks and black boughs of the
forest-trees. They listened for the roll of thunder, but heard
nothing, and were glad that the tempest came not near them. The
stars--those dial-points of heaven--now warned the adventurers to
close their eyes on the blazing logs and open them in dreams to the
glow of the Great Carbuncle.

The young married couple had taken their lodgings in the farthest
corner of the wigwam, and were separated from the rest of the party by
a curtain of curiously-woven twigs such as might have hung in deep
festoons around the bridal-bower of Eve. The modest little wife had
wrought this piece of tapestry while the other guests were talking.
She and her husband fell asleep with hands tenderly clasped, and awoke
from visions of unearthly radiance to meet the more blessed light of
one another's eyes. They awoke at the same instant and with one happy
smile beaming over their two faces, which grew brighter with their
consciousness of the reality of life and love. But no sooner did she
recollect where they were than the bride peeped through the
interstices of the leafy curtain and saw that the outer room of the
hut was deserted.

"Up, dear Matthew!" cried she, in haste. "The strange folk are all
gone. Up this very minute, or we shall lose the Great Carbuncle!"

In truth, so little did these poor young people deserve the mighty
prize which had lured them thither that they had slept peacefully all
night and till the summits of the hills were glittering with sunshine,
while the other adventurers had tossed their limbs in feverish
wakefulness or dreamed of climbing precipices, and set off to realize
their dreams with the curliest peep of dawn. But Matthew and Hannah
after their calm rest were as light as two young deer, and merely
stopped to say their prayers and wash themselves in a cold pool of the
Amonoosuck, and then to taste a morsel of food ere they turned their
faces to the mountain-side. It was a sweet emblem of conjugal
affection as they toiled up the difficult ascent gathering stre