sembly; and he listened with deep
and reverent attention to the devotions of his friends, frequently
applying to Hobomak, who stood at his side, to explain to him the words
and sentences that he did not comprehend.

The service concluded, and the women and children were descending the
hill by the path that led to the village, leaving the Governor and his
council to discuss some public business, and the other men to arrange
themselves as usual into companies, for the manning of their
fortification and other necessary employments. Just at that moment a
native, attired in the costume and equipments of a Narragansett, was
seen to approach the foot of the hill, bearing a bundle of strange
appearance in his hands. With a quick and decided step he mounted the
height, and glanced fiercely at the females and their children, whom he
passed in the winding path, and who all involuntarily shrank from the
gaze of his piercing and singularly expressive eye. In the breast of
Janet that glance struck a chill of horror; for she had once before
encountered it, and never could she forget or mistake it again. It
seemed that Fingal recognized it also, and knew the evil that it
foreboded. He was bounding down the hill by Edith's side, and, with
expressive looks and actions, inviting the pensive child to join in his
gambols, when the savage approached. Instantly he paused, and took his
stand close to his young mistress, as if to guard her from some
apprehended danger; and, as the red warrior passed, and bent his eye on
Edith, the sagacious creature uttered a low deep growl, and seemed
ready to spring at his throat, if the hand and voice of his young
companion had not restrained him. Fingal was a noble specimen of the
St. Bernard breed of dogs, whose sagacity is such as frequently to
appear like human reason, and his intelligence was not inferior to that
of the best of his race. In this instance it did not mislead him.

The dark warrior strode on without one sign of courtesy, and paused not
until he had entered the group of elders and councilors who stood
around the President, prepared to attend him to the public hall. The
white men made way for him to approach the Governor; and, as he did so,
his keen eye met that of Rodolph Maitland, and instantly kindled with a
deeper fire, and gleamed with an expression of almost diabolical
vengeance, which was seen by Rodolph, and understood by him for he,
too, could not fail to recognize in the Narraga