ated the words after him several times, as though acquiescing
in what he said. The other savages, either deceived by my conduct
or unwilling to manifest their displeasure at what could not now be
remedied, took no further notice of the occurrence, and I immediately
left the Ti.

All that night I lay awake, revolving in my mind the fearful situation
in which I was placed. The last horrid revelation had now been made, and
the full sense of my condition rushed upon my mind with a force I had
never before experienced.

Where, thought I, desponding, is there the slightest prospect of escape?
The only person who seemed to possess the ability to assist me was the
stranger Marnoo; but would he ever return to the valley? and if he did,
should I be permitted to hold any communication with him? It seemed as
if I were cut off from every source of hope, and that nothing remained
but passively to await whatever fate was in store for me. A thousand
times I endeavoured to account for the mysterious conduct of the
natives.

For what conceivable purpose did they thus retain me a captive? What
could be their object in treating me with such apparent kindness, and
did it not cover some treacherous scheme? Or, if they had no other
design than to hold me a prisoner, how should I be able to pass away my
days in this narrow valley, deprived of all intercourse with civilized
beings, and for ever separated from friends and home?

One only hope remained to me. The French could not long defer a visit
to the bay, and if they should permanently locate any of their troops
in the valley, the savages could not for any length of time conceal my
existence from them. But what reason had I to suppose that I should be
spared until such an event occurred, an event which might be postponed
by a hundred different contingencies?

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

THE STRANGER AGAIN ARRIVES IN THE VALLEY--SINGULAR INTERVIEW WITH
HIM--ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE--FAILURE--MELANCHOLY SITUATION--SYMPATHY OF
MARHEYO

'MARNOO, Marnoo pemi!' Such were the welcome sounds which fell upon my
ear some ten days after the events related in the preceding chapter.
Once more the approach of the stranger was heralded, and the
intelligence operated upon me like magic. Again I should be able to
converse with him in my own language; and I resolve at all hazards to
concert with him some scheme, however desperate, to rescue me from a
condition that had now become insupportable.

As he drew