Judge caught a glimpse of the figures of Elizabeth and
Louisa, who were slowly descending the mountain, a short distance before him. He
put spurs to his horse, and riding up to them, dismounted, and drove his steed
along the narrow path. While the agitated parent was listening to the vivid
description that his daughter gave of her recent danger, and her unexpected
escape, all thoughts of mines, vested rights, and examinations, were absorbed in
emotion; and when the image of Natty again crossed his recollection, it was not
as a lawless and depredating squatter, but as the preserver of his child.
 

                                  Chapter XXX

            »The court awards it, and the law doth give it.«
                                               The Merchant of Venice, IV.i.300.
 
Remarkable Pettibone, who had forgotten the wound received by her pride, in
contemplation of the ease and comforts of her situation, and who still retained
her station in the family of Judge Temple, was despatched to the humble dwelling
which Richard already styled the Rectory, in attendance on Louisa, who was soon
consigned to the arms of her father.
    In the mean time, Marmaduke and his daughter were closeted for more than an
hour, nor shall we invade the sanctuary of parental love, by relating the
conversation. - When the curtain rises on the reader, the Judge is seen walking
up and down the apartment, with a tender melancholy in his air, and his child
reclining on a settee, with a flushed cheek, and her dark eyes seeming to float
in crystals.
    »It was a timely rescue! it was, indeed, a timely rescue, my child!« cried
the Judge. »Then thou didst not desert thy friend, my noble Bess?«
    »I believe I may as well take the credit of fortitude,« said Elizabeth,
»though I much doubt if flight would have availed me any thing, had I even
courage to execute such an intention. But I thought not of the expedient.«
    »Of what didst thou think, love? where did thy thoughts dwell most, at that
fearful moment?«
    »The beast! the beast!« cried Elizabeth, veiling her face with her hand;
»Oh! I saw nothing, I thought of nothing, but the beast. I tried to think of
better things, but the horror was too glaring, the danger too much before my
eyes.«
    »Well, well, thou art safe, and we will converse no more on the unpleasant
subject. I did not think such an animal yet remained in our forest; but they
will stray far