, in appearance, so impracticable to be
pursued, that Roland, bewildered from the first, looked every moment to
find himself plunged into difficulties from which neither the zeal of
Nathan nor the sagacity of the unpretending Peter could extricate his
weary followers. The night was coming fast, and coming with clouds and
distant peals of thunder, the harbingers of new tempests; and how the
journey was to be continued, when darkness should at last invest them,
through the wild mazes of vine and brake in which they now wandered, was
a question which he scarce durst answer. But night came, and still Nathan
led the way with unabated confidence and activity, professing a very
hearty contempt for all perils and difficulties of the woods, except such
as proceeded from "evil-minded Shawnee creatures;" and, indeed, averring
that there was scarce a nook in the forest, for miles around, with which
he was not as well acquainted as with the patches of his own leathern
garments. "Truly," said he, "when I first came to this land, I did make
me a little cabin in a place hard by; but the Injuns burned the same;
and, verily, had it not been for little Peter, who gave me a hint of
their coming, I should have been burned with it. Be of good heart,
friend: if thee will keep the ill-meaning Injun-men out of my way, I
will adventure to lead thee anywhere thee will, within twenty miles of
this place, on the darkest night, and that through the thickest cane, or
deepest swamp, thee can lay eyes on,--that is, if I have but little dog
Peter to help me. Courage, friend; thee is now coming fast to the river;
and, if we have but good luck in crossing it, thee shall, peradventure,
find theeself nearer thee friends than thee thinks for."

This agreeable assurance was a cordial to the spirits of all, and the
travellers now finding themselves, though still in profound darkness,
moving through the open woodlands again, instead of the maze of copses
that had so long confined them, Roland took advantage of the change to
place himself at Nathan's side, and endeavour to draw from him some
account of his history, and the causes that had brought him into a
position and way of life so ill suited to his faith and peaceful habits.
To his questions, however, Nathan seemed little disposed to return
satisfactory answers, except in so far as they related to his adventures
since the period of his coming to the frontier; of which he spoke very
freely, though succinctly.