"Who knows," thought he, "but this night-walking old fellow of the
haunted house may be in the habit of haunting every visitor, and may
give a hint to some shrewder fellow than myself, who will take a
shorter cut to the well than by the way of Albany?" He wished a
thousand times that the babbling old ghost was laid in the Red Sea,
and his rambling portrait with him. He was in a perfect fever to
depart. Two or three days elapsed before any opportunity presented for
returning down the river. They were ages to Dolph, notwithstanding
that he was basking in the smiles of the pretty Marie, and daily
getting more and more enamoured.
At length the very sloop from which he had been knocked overboard,
prepared to make sail. Dolph made an awkward apology to his host for
his sudden departure. Antony Vander Heyden was sorely astonished. He
had concerted half-a-dozen excursions into the wilderness; and his
Indians were actually preparing for a grand expedition to one of the
lakes. He took Dolph aside, and exerted his eloquence to get him to
abandon all thoughts of business, and to remain with him--but in vain;
and he at length gave up the attempt, observing, "that it was a
thousand pities so fine a young man should throw himself away.
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