The Secret Shot; Or, The Rivals Of Misty Mount — page 39: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

-. _ . she would occasionall IDA EXPLORES THE LABYRINTH. 87 saved him by his meeting Colonel Campbell —who had been roused from his slumber by a-courier from General Gates—and his being presented with an order from the Commander-in-Chief, ordering him, Cleave- land, to return with his command to Val- leyton at the earliest moment, to prevent rising of the Tory population, which was momently apprehended. Overjoyed at this intelligence, Cleaveland hastily narrated the duel in which he had just been engaged, with the request that the colonel would have the body of his foeman interred before leaving the mountain; which was readily granted. Cleayeland—who seemed to be proof against fatigue and sleeplessness—then busied him- self for the remainder of the night with preparations for his journey north-westward. At break of day his battle-thinned and war- worn troop of veterans were mustered for their departure at beat of drum and blast of bugle, and, after a warm parting from their brothers in arms, they proceeded down the mountain side, leaving behind them the gory field in whose conquest they had borne so honorable a part. Reaching the com- mencement of the second descent, where their-horses were picketed, the little caval- cade—now numbering scarcely one hundred and fifty—-remounted, and were soon gal- loping, hot haste, in the direction of Val- leyton. CHAPTER X. Judith. F.ieancr. We will have rain anon. 1st MURDERER. Let it come down, ’ MACBETH, Arter Heartstead’s departure from the cavern, the captive passed the time in an agony of doubt and fear as to what might be the next attempt—scarcely trusting her- self to slumber, though worn out with anx- iety and long vigils. The days and nights went over her in her subterranean dungeon without her knowledge. It was always night to her; whenever she looked out of her lattice, and glanced upward through the gloom of the echoing chasm, she saw the stars shining brightly. So she seemed to Jose all account of the flight of time, and her terrible anxiety grew into a morbid, all- possessing fear, which seemed to be blight- inc her to the grave. When, overpowered, ‘ y relapse into a fitful uld arouse her, least sound wo gigi instant, to hear and she expected, the next the form of Heartstead. the noisy bolts withdrawn, and to behold Judith entered ev- ery now and then, to bring her water and food, and to replenish the lamp with oil. She still maintained the meek, obsequious manner with which she had at first under- taken to deceive her victim; but, Ida had grown to distrust her, and came to receive her attentions in gloomy silence. Once, Judith having forgotten to bolt the door, the prisoner was filled with a vague hope that her deliverance was at hand. She waited till the steps of her jailer had died away, and then tremblingly tried to open the massive panel. After having almost exhausted her strength in fruitless efforts, the portal at last yielded and swung open. The trembling captive shrunk back from the profound gloom by which she found herself confronted ; for the door had opened into the vast inner temple of the cavern. Taking courage, however, and with a prayer to God on her lips, the maiden took the glimmering lamp which lighted her cell, and proceeded with cautious footsteps out into the gloom. The lamp was a feeble aid, but it was far better than none. She crept around ‘the wall of the cavern, not daring to go straight across, as her imagination de- picted some frightful gulf of horrors as ex- isting somewhere in the center of the unex- plored cave. to the left of her dungeon door, and had not proceeded many yards before she noticed a small cleft in the wall of the cave. Curi- ously grasping the thin edge of a long, flat rock, which seemed to be loosely set against the opening, she was much surprised to find that the rock was not only light and easily handled, but that shecould displace it. Set- ting down her lamp, she exerted herself, and drew away the thin stone, like a folding-door, and was further surprised to see revealed a square-shaped opening in the wall of the cavern, which would -easily admit a human form. Determined to explore still further, she took up her lamp, and, stooping low, made her way into the opening, when she suddenly found herself in a small sub-cav- ern, fully as eapacious as her own cell, but apparently not lately entered, as nothing about the rude walls or ceiling bore tokens of the smoothing hand of artificial improve- ment. After she had retraced her steps and easily replaced the slab before the opening, she paused in thought. If she should not succeed in making her escape—if she wag again immured in her dungeon, an4 another She went around by the wall, ole - Comicooolks