her eyes bent in the direction of the pebbles, over which she was walking; probably because, being less adventurous than her companion, she was disposed to view what could be faintly discerned, without attempting the gloom, in a vain effort to pierce its mysteries; or probably for some better reason, that we leave our readers to imagine; but thus awakened, she looked up, in the direction pointed out by her friend, and saw, at once, the cause of her sudden exclamation.
Through the obscurity, which prevailed most immediately under the eastern mountain, a small and uncertain light was plainly to be seen, though, as it was occasionally lost to the eye, it seemed struggling for its existence. They observed it to move, and sensibly to lower, as if carried, down the descent of the bank, to the shore. Here, in a very short time, its flame gradually expanded, and grew brighter, until it became of the size of a man's head, when it continued to shine, a steady and glaring ball of fire.
Such an object, lighted as it were by magic, under the brow of the mountain, and in that retired and unfrequented place, gave double interest to the beauty and singularity of its appearance. It did not at all resemble the large and unsteady light of their own fire, being much more clear and bright, and retaining its size and shape with perfect uniformity.
There are moments when the best regulated minds are, more or less, subjected to the injurious impressions which few have escaped in infancy, and Elizabeth smiled at her own weakness, while she remembered the idle tales which were circulated through the village, at the expense of the Leather-stocking. The same ideas seized her companion, and at the same instant, for Louisa pressed nearer to her friend, as she said, in a low
