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Page 30
"I knew it--I'd ha' bet a bar-skin he'd fetch it," cried a third.
"Out with it, Ike, afore you forget it," shouted the fourth.
"Hold your jabbering tongues--!" cried Isaac, in vexation. "You're
enough to bother a feller to death. I'd like to see some o' the rest on
ye cramped up fur a toast, jest to see how _you'd_ feel with all on 'em
hollering like." A hearty laugh at his expense was all the sympathy poor
Isaac received.
"Give us the bottle!" resumed Isaac. "Now here goes," continued he,
rising and holding Black Betty by the neck. "Here's to the gals o' old
Kaintuck--Heaven bless 'em! May they bloom like clover heads, be
plentier nor bar-skins, and follow the example o' Peggy, every mother's
daughter on 'em!--hooray!" And having drank, the speaker resumed his
seat, amid roars of laughter and three rounds of applause.
By the time this mirth had subsided, the fiddler struck up, and the
dance again went on as before. Some two hours later the bridesmaid, with
two or three others, managed to steal away the bride unobserved; and
proceeding to a ladder at one end of the apartment, ascended to the
chamber above, and saw her safely lodged in bed. In the course of
another half hour the same number of gentlemen performed a like service
for Isaac--such being customary at all weddings of that period.
During the night Black Betty, in company with more substantial
refreshment, was sent up to the newly married pair some two or three
times; and always returned (Black Betty we mean) considerable lighter
than she went; thus proving, that if lovers can live on air, the married
ones do not always partake of things less spiritual. About three o'clock
in the morning, Algernon and Ella took leave of the company and set out
upon their return--he pleading illness as an apology for withdrawing
thus early. The remainder of the party keep together until five, when
they gradually began to separate; and by six the dancing had ceased, and
the greater portion of them had taken their departure. Thus ended the
wedding of Isaac Younker--a fair specimen, by the way, of a backwood's
wedding in the early settlement of the west.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PRESENTIMENT.
Deep and gloomy were the meditations of Algernon Reynolds, as, in
company with Ella Barnwell, he rode slowly along the narrow path which
he had traversed, if not with buoyant, at least with far lighter
spirits than now, the morning before. From some, latent cause, he felt
oppressed with a weight of despondency, as previously mentioned, that
served to prostrate in a measure both his mental powers and physical
system. He felt, though he could give no reason why, that some calamity
was about to befall himself and the fair being by his side; and he
strove to arouse himself and shake off the gloomy thoughts; but if he
succeeded, it was only momentary, and they would again rush back with an
increased power. He had been subject, since his unfortunate quarrel with
his cousin, to gloomy reveries and depressions of spirits--but never
before had he felt exactly as now; and though in all former cases the
event referred to had been the cause of his sad abstractions, yet in the
present instance it scarcely held a place in his thoughts. Could it be a
presentiment, he asked himself, sent to warn him of danger and prepare
him to meet it? But the question he could not answer.
The night, or rather the morning, though clear overhead, was uncommonly
dark; and the stars, what few could be discerned, shed only pale, faint
gleams, as though their lights were about to be extinguished. For some
time both Algernon and Ella continued their journey without exchanging a
syllable--she too, as well as himself, being deeply absorbed in no very
pleasant reflections. She thought of him, of his hard fate, to meet with
so many bitter disappointments at an age so young; and at last, for no
premeditated, no intentional crime, be forced to fly from home and
friends, and all he held dear, to wander in a far off land, among
strangers--or worse, among the solitudes of the wilderness--exposed to a
thousand dangers from wild savage beasts, and wilder and more savage
human beings; and perhaps, withal, be branded as a felon and fugitive
from justice. She thought what must be his feelings, his sense of utter
desolation, with none around to sympathize--no sweet being by his side
to whisper a single word of encouragement and hope; or, should the worst
prove true, to share his painful lot, and endeavor to render less
burdensome his remorseful thoughts, by smiles of endearment and looks of
love. She thought, too, that to-morrow--perhaps today--he would take his
departure, peradventure never to behold her again; and this was the
saddest of the train. Until she saw him, Ella had never known what it
was to love--perchance she did not now--but at least she had experienced
those fluttering sensations, those deep and strange emotions, those
involuntary yearnings of the heart toward some object in his presence,
that aching void in his absence, which the more experienced would
doubtless put down to that cause, and which no other being had ever even
for a moment awakened in her breast. For something like half an hour the
two rode on together, buried in their own sad reflections, when Ella
broke the silence, by saying, in a low, touching voice:
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