Hetty's low, sweet tones had not been raised many moments, when
the dip of the oars ceased, and the holy strain arose singly on the
breathing silence of the wilderness. As if she gathered courage
with the theme, her powers appeared to increase as she proceeded;
and though nothing vulgar or noisy mingled in her melody, its
strength and melancholy tenderness grew on the ear, until the air
was filled with this simple homage of a soul that seemed almost
spotless. That the men forward were not indifferent to this
touching interruption, was proved by their inaction; nor did their
oars again dip until the last of the sweet sounds had actually died
among the remarkable shores, which, at that witching hour, would
waft even the lowest modulations of the human voice more than a mile.
Hutter was much affected; for rude as he was by early habits, and
even ruthless as he had got to be by long exposure to the practices
of the wilderness, his nature was of that fearful mixture of good
and evil that so generally enters into the moral composition of
man.
"You are sad tonight, child," said the father, whose manner and
language usually assumed some of the gentleness and elevation of
the civilized life he had led in youth, when he thus communed with
this particular child; "we have just escaped from enemies, and
ought rather to rejoice.
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