Some of the whites carried their double-barrelled
guns, some their rifles--it being deemed politic, at that time, to
prepare for all contingencies, for the Indian or for the buck, as well
as for the more direct object of the journey.
At length, in a rapidly approaching group, a bright but timid glance met
that of Colleton, and curbing in the impetuous animal which he rode, in
a few moments he found himself side by side with Miss Munro, who
answered his prettiest introductory compliment with a smile and speech,
uttered with a natural grace, and with the spirit of a dame of chivalry.
"We have a like object to-day, I presume," was, after a few
complimentary sentences, the language of Ralph--"yet," he continued, "I
fear me, that our several impulses at this time scarcely so far resemble
each other as to make it not discreditable to yours to permit of the
comparison."
"I know not what may be the motive which impels you, sir to the course
you take; but I will not pretend to urge that, even in my own thoughts,
my route is any more the result of a settled conviction of its high
necessity than it may be in yours, and the confession which I shame to
make, is perhaps of itself, a beginning of that very kind of
self-examination which we seek the church to awaken.
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