This latter speech was occasioned by a movement of the pretended sleeper, and the gradual opening of his eyes, with the rude stare of bewildered surprise natural to one in his supposed situation, and such as he would have exhibited without feigning, had the hostess been present some ten minutes sooner.  Discovering, as already intimated, a returning consciousness on the part of her guest, the good woman drew back her head, but still kept her position by the bed, and her eyes fixed upon him, with an expression which betrayed a fear lest her hopes of this important event should prove entirely fallacious.  Behind her, with timid step, stole up Ella, and, peeping over her shoulders, encountered the eyes of the young man beaming upon her, with a look which her acute perception told her was any thing but insane; and instantly starting back, the blood rushed upward, crimsoning her neck and face with a beautiful glow.  As for Reynolds—­in whom, as already stated, the voice of Ella alone was sufficient to awaken a thrill of pleasure—­no sooner did he behold her, though but for an instant, than he felt that thrill revived with a sensation, which, in spite of himself, he knew was expressed in his own countenance; and he hastened to speak, in order as much as possible to conceal it.

“Will you have the goodness, madam, to inform me where I am?”

“Thar, thar, Ella, child!” exclaimed the matron, joyously; “I told ye so—­I know’d it—­he’s come to, for sartin—­the Lord be praised!” Then addressing herself to Reynolds, she continued:  “Whar are you, stranger, do you ax?  Why you’re in the cabin o’ Ben Younker—­as honest a man as ever shot a painter—­who’s my husband, and father of Isaac Younker, what brought ye here, according to the directions of Colonel Boone, arter you war shot by the Injens, the varmints, three days ago; and uncle of Ella Barnwell here, as I calls daughter, ’cause her parents is dead, poor creaters, and she hadn’t a home to go to, but come’d to live with us, that are fetching her up in a a dutiful way;” and the good woman concluded her lucid account of family matters with a sound that much resembled a person taking breath after some laborious exertion.

“And is it possible,” answered Reynolds, who hastened to reply, in order to conceal a strong inclination he felt for laughing, “that I have lain here three whole days?”

“Three days, and four nights, and part o’ another day, jest as true as buffaloes run in cane-brakes, and Injen varmints shoot white folks whensomever they git a chance,” replied Mrs. Younker, with great volubility.  “And Ella, the darling, has tended on ye like you war her own nateral born brother; and Isaac, and Ben, and myself ha’ tended on ye too, while you war raving and running on at an orful rate, though you’ve had the best bed, and best o’ every thing we’ve got in the house.”

“For all of which I am at a loss for terms to express my gratitude,” returned Reynolds, coloring slightly as he thought of the assiduous attentions he had unconsciously received from Ella Barnwell, who already began to be an object in his eyes of no little importance.