Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1842-07-04

! more eXqusitely proportional han her slight and
sylph-Iike fgure--aud yet nothing could he more
! full aud rounded than every delicate limb. Her
face was like that Of n Madonna, as high aud no.
| " was its expression. 1t was one indeed to fall
down and worship. The eyes we're of deep
! blue and the hair was of sunshiuy gold, the
forehead was broad and beautifully smooth the
lips were of ucious red and delicately chisseI.
J led, and the smile that played around her mouth
! when she spoke had purity aud sweetness, and
told OF such deep affections, Wondering in the vir
/ gin heart of the owner, that you could not gaze
without admiration, nor admire without love. And
! then, as her companion spoke gaily aud often tea
! singly on some subject which seemed to be near
the heart OF the maiden, the bushes would mo-
menlarily shoot into her face and die away, as
| the northern lights on clear evening flush the
sky for an instant aud then fade away.
les, coz continued her companion, keeping
! up conversation which had lasted some time
| this unnatural war will soon ha ct an end, and
! then how happy shall we be--you in your house
| in The clearing below, and we in this old home
stead scarcely Il ten minutes walk distant But
she added, rising lit is nearly time for brother 10
! be here. lie said he would he absent at the fort
only TWO or three hours at the utmost, and it now
has been at least four But suppose he will soon
! return i must make You promise to Glide Harry
when he gets here what blushing again--bnt
! bark was that a loolstepP
! For an instant both naidens paused and listen.
! sound, they resumed their conversation.
! j did not hear any STEP said Helen, and
| think would have > She stopped on seeing the
| eyes of her cousin fixed laughingIy on her, and
turned awny in beautiful embarrassment.
y on should have said, or rather you thought,
said her companion archly, that you should know
l1arrys iOotseps-was it not so, sweet COZ I? con-
tinued Jane, patting the fair girls cheek as she
! would have caressed that of young sister, come,
know your very thought, and now you need not
blush 10 own your love tor Harry when n nober
or iruer heart never beat in BOSOM aud as the
warm hearted girl pronounced this eulogium on
her brother, her dark eye kndIed with sisterly
PRIDE
4 do not blush to own that I love Harry said
the younger maiden, 'as you know, dear Jane
and would lay down my e,' she continued with
! enthusiasm, at any time, for his-so wholly aud
unreseryedly do cherish his image in my heart
! and that is n confession | never made before,
! even to You. Bul--but- hut
Never mind The butts, sweet coz said Jane ga
ly, 4 guess your excuse, although you not find
words in which to express it, for if it had been a.
bout that mad cap Charley Stansworlh we had
been conversing, aud | had been convicted of
/ blushlng al his name, the excuse | should have
| given would have been that could not help it,
| and the maiden actually paused from sheer want
OF breath us she finished the sentence.
ooh how you rattle on, Jane said her milder
! companion, am sure could never talk as you
do about Harry
And why not Helen! Simply because it is not
your nature to do. But you know you were al
| ways silent and reserved, while have been called
Il rather ever since we dressed our dolls together
| in the old parlor in Albany, before father failed
or either of us had thought of these wild but
| beautiful woods
'Or OF Captain Stnnsworth, interrupted Helen,
| with something of the archness of her compan-
| ion.
| no ia,
! lifting up her hand in affected astonshment, a
| gesture which brought the blood again into the
| checks OF her sensitive companion, YOU have re
ally cast off your reserve at last the leopard has
changed his spots--but she added, suddenly see.
ing thai the blood Had left teen's face, and that
her cheeks had assumed hue as livid as that OF
| death, while her eyes, dislended with horror, were
! fixed in a stony gaze at some other object across
| the shoulder OF the speaker, 'what is the matter
! Are you i'll? In Heavens name speak,
! Helen made an attempt TO reply, for her lips
| moved, but il seemed us il some strange power
! bud deprived her of her speech, and her only re-
! ply to the question was made by pointing with Il
! quivering finger in the direction TO which her gaze
was fixed All this passed in an instant, the next
moment Jane turned hurriedy around.
The sight that met her eyes would have driven
the blood back in torrents on the soutest hearts,
aud well accounted for the terror which shook the
! frame OF Helen as in an ague fiji, for in the oppo-
|
! lace OF an Indian, in his paint, peerlng tbro'
the empowering foliage. lie had approached UNI
seen, and pushing aside the vine leaves, glared OH
the cousins like tiger on his prey. Never had Il
more fearful cOuntenance met the eye of either of
| the madens his wrinked brow was bent in ha-
btua trown, and from beneath his overhanging
forehead cleaned forth his dark fiery eyes like vi
| vd Goals glowing far down in a furnace. His
teeth we've slightly parted in a sardonc smile, and
his nosrlls were distended in eager anlicpatons
OF his prey. A slight scream burst from James
lips, az her eye fell on this fearful upparltion and
for Moment as she reflected on the situation of
Helen and herself her brain whired wildly round
as II reason was retiring from her throne. Aud
well might her heart beat quick the color flush
and go into her cheek aud her breath come in
short and quick gDsps, when she reflected on her
unprotected situation. Ii was the year in which
the Mohawks, under Brandt, made those terrible
ncurslons into the valley, which have since filed
the most melancholy pages OF our revoutiona-
ry hstory-incursions in which villages were de
populated, whole districts laid waste, and some Of
the most irightiul massacres committed by the
savages and their more burbarous allies the tories
| that ever stained the records of the past-and al
though the settlements in the vicinity where our
| heroines resided had hitherto been considered
sale from the enemy, yet rumOrs OF the atrociOus
deeds perperaled by the Indians, had often drawn
tears from the cousins eyes, and made Mohawk
as terrible 10 them as that Of some all destroying
pesrience, aye! or OF death itself Jane saw al IA
glance therefore, the danger that surrounded her,
! She knew enough to know that the Indian before
her was an enemy, and, judging from his paint,
engaged in war expedition. Besides that the
intruder was not uDaccompanied, for a hasty
! glance revealed to her more than one dusky face
in the back ground. Alone, unprotected far
from all succor, what could two feeble women do
against such foes? Jane suspected moreover that
either the ASSISTANTS were in such force to defy
all the strength of the valley, or else the cottage
had been watched with the intention of surpris-
ing It's more delonceless inmates, when their nat
uraI protectors should be absent A dark fear al
so shot across her mind lest her brother should
have been waylald and murdered. The thought
was agony itself, for if such indeed had been The
case, where would be the hope Of succor even if
the sayages should spare her life and that of Hell.
en-, and carry them off as prisoners? Suddenly
the idea flashed across her mind, that perhaps sine