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Page 8
"Thar, thar, Ella, child!" exclaimed the matron, joyously; "I told ye
so--I know'd it--he's come to, for sartin--the Lord be praised!" Then
addressing herself to Reynolds, she continued: "Whar are you, stranger,
do you ax? Why you're in the cabin o' Ben Younker--as honest a man as
ever shot a painter--who's my husband, and father of Isaac Younker, what
brought ye here, according to the directions of Colonel Boone, arter you
war shot by the Injens, the varmints, three days ago; and uncle of Ella
Barnwell here, as I calls daughter, 'cause her parents is dead, poor
creaters, and she hadn't a home to go to, but come'd to live with us,
that are fetching her up in a a dutiful way;" and the good woman
concluded her lucid account of family matters with a sound that much
resembled a person taking breath after some laborious exertion.
"And is it possible," answered Reynolds, who hastened to reply, in order
to conceal a strong inclination he felt for laughing, "that I have lain
here three whole days?"
"Three days, and four nights, and part o' another day, jest as true as
buffaloes run in cane-brakes, and Injen varmints shoot white folks
whensomever they git a chance," replied Mrs. Younker, with great
volubility. "And Ella, the darling, has tended on ye like you war her
own nateral born brother; and Isaac, and Ben, and myself ha' tended on
ye too, while you war raving and running on at an orful rate, though
you've had the best bed, and best o' every thing we've got in the
house."
"For all of which I am at a loss for terms to express my gratitude,"
returned Reynolds, coloring slightly as he thought of the assiduous
attentions he had unconsciously received from Ella Barnwell, who already
began to be an object in his eyes of no little importance.
"Don't mention about gratitude," rejoined the kind hearted Mrs. Younker;
"don't talk about gratitude, for a lettle favor sech as every body's got
a right to, what comes into this country and gits shot by savages. We
havn't done no more for you than we'd a done for any body else in like
sarcumstances; and, la, sir, the pleasure o' knowing you're a going to
git well agin, arter being shot by Injen's pizen bullets,[3] is enough
to pay us twenty times over--Eh! Ella, child--don't you say so?"
"No one, save the gentleman himself, or his dearest friends, can be more
rejoiced at his favorable symptoms than myself," responded Ella,
timidly, in a voice so low, sweet and touching, that Reynolds, who heard
without seeing her--for she kept the rude curtain of skins between
them--felt his heart beat strangely, while his eyes involuntarily grew
moist.
"That's truly said, gal--truly said, I do believe," rejoined Mrs.
Younker; "for she's hung over you, sir, (turning to the wounded man)
night and day, like a mother over her child, until we've had to use
right smart authority to make her go to bed, for fear as how she'd be
sick too."
"And if I live," answered Reynolds, in a voice that trembled with
emotion, "and it is ever in my power to repay such disinterested
attention and kindness, I will do it, even to the sacrificing that life
which she, together with you and your family, good woman, has been the
means, under God, of preserving."
"Under God," repeated the matron; "that's true; I like the way you said
that, stranger; it sounds reverential--it's just--and it raises my
respect for you a good deal; for all our doings is under God's permit;"
and she turned her eyes upward, with a devout look, in which position
she remained several seconds; while Ella, with her fair hands clasped,
followed her example, and seemed, with her moving lips, engaged in
prayer.
"But come," resumed the dame, "it won't do for you, stranger, to be
disturbed too much jest now; for you arn't any too strong, I reckon; and
so you'll jest take my advice, and go to sleep awhile, and you'll feel
all the better for't agin Ben and Isaac come home, which'll be in two or
three hours."
Saying this, Mrs. Younker again disposed the curtains so as to conceal
from Reynolds all external objects; and, together with Ella, withdrew,
leaving him to repose. Whether he profited by her advice immediately, or
whether he meditated for some time on other matters, not excluding Ella,
we shall leave to the imagination of the reader; while we proceed, by
way of episode, to give a general, though brief account, of the Younker
family.
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