uld not trust his voice in that trying
moment--but he followed his guards, and his eye was again steadfast,
and his step was firm.

Henrich and Oriana waited anxiously for the return of Jyanough: but he
came not; and they almost feared that Tisquantum's request had been too
coldly urged to prove successful. It was a calm autumnal day; and as
the sun rose high in the heavens, his beams were shrouded by heavy
thunder clouds, while a low and distant murmur foretold an approaching
storm, and added to the gloom that weighed heavily on Oriana's spirit.
All the sin and degradation of the faith of her countrymen seemed to
strike upon her mind with a force hitherto unknown, and to bow her down
in shame and sadness. Even to Henrich--to her loved Christian friend
and teacher--she could not now utter her feelings; and when, to divert
her thoughts, and remove her from the village where he knew so cruel a
scene would soon be enacted, he led her towards the forest, she
followed him silently. They seated themselves beneath an overshadowing
tree; and, for some time, no sound broke the oppressive silence save
the soft rustling of the leaves, that seemed to be moved by the spirits
of the air-for no wind was stirring.

Presently a shriek--one single cry of agony--arose from the village:
and all was still again.

'It was a woman's voice!' exclaimed Oriana, in a tone of deep
suffering. 'O, Henrich! they murder the helpless and the innocent; and
my father consents to the deed!'

Henrich did not reply; he had no comfort to offer. But they both gazed
towards the village, as if hoping to discover, through the impervious
wood that surrounded it, some indications of what was going on in those
'habitations of cruelty.'

Soon a dense cloud of smoke rose high in the still at; and flames shot
up above the intervening trees. And then burst forth a mingled din of
wild unearthly sounds, that told of sated vengeance, and malignant joy,
and demoniac worship. Fiercely the war cry of the Crees rang in the
air, while above it rose the shrill sound of clashing spears and
tomahawks; and Oriana knew that the savages were dancing round a death-
fire, and calling on Mahneto to accept their bloody offering.

But now the threatening storm broke suddenly on that dark place of the
earth; and it seemed to Oriana's troubled spirit that the wrath of
heaven was poured upon her benighted race. Peal after peal resounded in
quick succession, and reverberated from the