' she exclaimed. 'Where is that fearful form, and those
eyes of unearthly fire that glared on me just now? You are safe, my
Henrich,' she added; and, as she looked up in his face, tears of joy
and gratitude burst from her large expressive eyes, and relieved her
bursting heart. You are safe, my Henrich: and oh that that dark form of
dread and evil might never, never, cross my path again!'

'Fear not, Oriana,' replied Jyanough, 'he never more will darken your
way through life. He has met the death he designed for Henrich, and let
us think of him no more. It is time to return to the camp; and your
husband and I will support you down the hill.'

'I am well, quite well, now !' cried Oriana, and she rose from the
ground, and clung to Henrich's arm, as if to assure herself of his
presence and safety. 'I could walk through the world thus supported,
and thus guarded, too,' she added, as she stroked the head of the
joyous Rodolph, who now bounded round her and Henrich with all his
wonted spirit. 'I owe much to my two trusty friends; for, but for
their care and watchfulness, what would now have been my dreadful fate!
Let us leave this spot--so beautiful, but now so full of fearful
images!'

CHAPTER XVII.

'Hither and thither; hither and thither!
Madly they fly!
Whither, O, whither! Whither, O, whither? -
'Tis but to die!
Fire is behind them: fire is, around them:
Black is the sky?
Horror pursues them; anguish has found them:
Destruction is nigh!
And where is refuge? where is safety now?
Father of mercy! None can Save but Thou?' ANON.

'What is that distant cloud, Henrich?' inquired Oriana, as they rode by
Tisquantum's side on the evening of the day of their journey towards the
Missouri. 'It seems like the smoke of an encampment, as I see it over
the tall waving grass: but it must be too near to be the camp of our
people; unless, indeed, they have tarried there, waiting the arrival of
Coubitant, who never will rejoin them more.'

'I see the cloud you speak of, Oriana; and I have been watching it with
some anxiety for several minutes. It cannot be what you suggest, for
you know your father received a message from the trusty Salon--next in
command to Coubitant--to tell him that their leader not having joined
the party as he promised, a search had been made, and his mangled body
found at the foot of the rock, where, it was supposed, he must have
fallen in attempting the sleep descent. Salon's messenger further