Like wiser and
greater men, he, too, had been won away, by the desire of rule and
reference, from the humble quiet of his native fireside; and if, in
after life, he did not bitterly repent of the folly, it was because of
that light-hearted and sanguine temperament which never deserted him
quite, and supported him in all events and through every vicissitude. He
had wandered much after leaving his parental home, and was now engaged
in an occupation and pursuit which our future pages must develop. Having
narrated, in his desultory way to his companion, the facts which we have
condensed, he conceived himself entitled to some share of that
confidence of which he had himself exhibited so fair an example; and the
cross-examination which followed did not vary very materially from that
to which most wayfarers in this region are subjected, and of which, on
more than one occasion, they have been heard so vociferously to
complain.
"Well, Master Ralph--unless my eyes greatly miscalculate, you cannot be
more than nineteen or twenty at the most; and if one may be so bold,
what is it that brings one of your youth and connections abroad into
this wilderness, among wild men and wild beasts, and we gold-hunters,
whom men do say are very little, if any, better than them?"
"Why, as respects your first conjecture, Forrester," returned the youth,
"you are by no means out of the way.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191