outbreak, and there have been others at different periods; but they were
put down in so rigorous a fashion that the negroes are not likely again,
I fancy, to make the attempt."

"I trust not," said Ellen, "for it would be a fearful thing were these
tens of thousands of blacks, discovering their strength, to rise on
their masters and attempt to revenge the wrongs they have suffered."

The conversation between Ellen and her devoted attendant was, it must be
confessed, of a very unsentimental character; indeed, she would very
quickly have put a stop to anything that had been otherwise, although
the romantic scenery through which they were passing might, under other
circumstances, have exercised its influence over her. Not a breath of
wind as yet disturbed the calm, pure atmosphere; the ocean appeared like
a sheet of glass; the blue sky overhead was undimmed by a cloud; the
mountain-tops seen to the right rose above the mass of green, their
outline distinctly marked, though at a considerable distance. The only
sounds which reached them were the lowing of cattle and the signal horns
of the drivers summoning the negroes to their work. In a short time the
light increased, the sun rose above the ocean, and a gentle breeze waved
the topmost boughs of the trees, breaking the sea below on the left into
tiny wavelets. Now the road led round a hill, with a steep precipice on
the left reaching down to the water, and high cliffs to the right
covered with shrubs and creepers of every hue. As it was seen ahead, it
appeared as if there was barely room for more than one horse to pass,
and that no carriage could possibly get along without risk of falling
over the precipice; but as they proceeded it widened out, and Archie,
notwithstanding Ellen's cautions, insisted on still keeping his place,
riding between her and the edge of the precipice.

"Pray keep behind me, or ride on in front, Mr Sandys," she exclaimed.
"You would horrify me exceedingly were you to fall over the edge; and to
save you from running the risk, I am compelled, you see, to ride so
close to the cliff that I run the chance of having my hat torn off by
the boughs above, or getting my shoulder struck by a projecting rock."

Still Archie begged to ride on as he was doing. "Were your horse to
shy, Miss Ferris," he remarked, "I might be the means of saving you, and
I would run every risk for the sake of doing that."

Ellen laughed. "I am very ungrateful," she said,