"That's it, poor Hetty; yes, that's it. My tongue wants cooling,
now -what will it be hereafter?"
This appeal silenced even the confiding Hetty, for she had no
answer ready for a confession so fraught with despair. Water, so
long as it could relieve the sufferer, it was in the power of the
sisters to give, and from time to time it was offered to the lips
of the sufferer as he asked for it. Even Judith prayed. As for
Hetty, as soon as she found that her efforts to make her father
listen to her texts were no longer rewarded with success, she knelt
at his side and devoutly repeated the words which the Saviour has
left behind him as a model for human petitions. This she continued
to do, at intervals, as long as it seemed to her that the act could
benefit the dying man. Hutter, however, lingered longer than the
girls had believed possible when they first found him. At times
he spoke intelligibly, though his lips oftener moved in utterance
of sounds that carried no distinct impressions to the mind. Judith
listened intently, and she heard the words - "husband" -"death"
-"pirate" - "law" - "scalps" - and several others of similar import,
though there was no sentence to tell the precise connection in
which they were used.
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