The outlaw had been deserted by nearly all his followers. The note of
preparation and pursuit, sounded by the state authorities, had inspired
the depredators with a degree of terror, which the near approximation of
the guard, in strong numbers, to their most secluded places, had not a
little tended to increase; and accordingly, at the period of which we
now speak, the outlaw, deserted by all but one or two of the most daring
of his followers--who were, however, careful enough of themselves to
keep in no one place long, and cautiously to avoid their accustomed
haunts--remained in his rock, in a state of gloomy despondency, not
usually his characteristic. Had he been less stubborn, less ready to
defy all chances and all persons, it is not improbable that Rivers would
have taken counsel by their flight, and removed himself, for a time at
least, from the scene of danger. But his native obstinacy, and that
madness of heart which, as we are told, seizes first upon him whom God
seeks to destroy, determined him, against the judgment of others, and in
part against his own, to remain where he was; probably in the fallacious
hope that the storm would pass over, as on so many previous occasions it
had already done, and leave him again free to his old practices in the
same region.
Pages:
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861