shore, and landing, ascended the beach and approached the door of the cabin. The fastenings were soon undone, and he entered, closing the door after him, when all was as silent, in that retired spot, as if the foot of man had never trod the wilderness. The sounds of the hammers, that were in incessant motion in the village, were faintly heard across the water; but the dogs had crouched into their lairs, well satisfied that none but the privileged had approached the forbidden ground.
A quarter of an hour elapsed before the youth re-appeared, when he fastened the door again and spoke kindly to the hounds. The dogs came out at the well-known tones, and the slut jumped up on his person, whining and barking, as if entreating Oliver to release her from her prison. But Old Hector raided his nose to the light current of air, and opened a long howl, that might have been heard for a mile.
"Ha! what do you scent, my old veteran of the woods?" cried Edwards. "If a beast, it is a bold one; and if a man, an impudent."
He sprung through the top of a pine, that had fallen near the side of the hut, and ascended a small hillock, that sheltered the cabin to the south, where he caught a glimpse of the formal figure of Hiram Doolittle, as it vanished with an unusual rapidity for the architect, amid the trees and bushes.
"What can that fellow be wanting here?" muttered Oliver. "He has no business in this quarter, unless it be his curiosity, which is an endemic in these woods. But against that I will effectually guard, though the dogs should take a liking to his ugly visage, and let him pass." The youth returned to the door, while giving vent to this soliloquy, and completed the fastenings, by placing
