od of those who defended the citadel beneath. It is hardly necessary
to add, that this rude and characteristic fortress was the place where
Ishmael Bush had taken refuge, after the robbery of his flocks and
herds.

On the day to which the narrative is advanced, the squatter was standing
near the base of the rocks, leaning on his rifle, and regarding the
sterile soil that supported him with a look in which contempt and
disappointment were strongly blended.

"'Tis time to change our natur's," he observed to the brother of his
wife, who was rarely far from his elbow; "and to become ruminators,
instead of people used to the fare of Christians and free men. I reckon,
Abiram, you could glean a living among the grasshoppers: you ar' an
active man, and might outrun the nimblest skipper of them all."

"The country will never do," returned the other, who relished but little
the forced humour of his kinsman; "and it is well to remember that a
lazy traveller makes a long journey."

"Would you have me draw a cart at my heels, across this desert for
weeks,--ay, months?" retorted Ishmael, who, like all of his class,
could labour with incredible efforts on emergencies, but who too seldom
exerted continued industry, on any occasion, to brook a proposal that
offered so little repose. "It may do for your people, who live in
settlements, to hasten on to their houses; but, thank Heaven! my farm is
too big for its owner ever to want a resting-place."

"Since you like the plantation, then, you have only to make your crop."

"That is easier said than done, on this corner of the estate. I tell
you, Abiram, there is need of moving, for more reasons than one. You
know I'm a man that very seldom enters into a bargain, but who always
fulfils his agreements better than your dealers in wordy contracts
written on rags of paper. If there's one mile, there ar' a hundred still
needed to make up the distance for which you have my honour."

As he spoke, the squatter glanced his eye upward at the little tenement
of cloth which crowned the summit of his ragged fortress. The look was
understood and answered by the other; and by some secret influence,
which operated either through their interests or feelings, it served to
re-establish that harmony between them, which had just been threatened
with something like a momentary breach.

"I know it, and feel it in every bone of my body. But I remember the
reason, why I have set myself on this accursed journe