ly, and with a stern accent, assumed
perhaps to reassure his kinswoman, whom the alarming communications of
the stranger, uttered in an agony of terror and haste, filled with an
agitation which she could not conceal, "you have seen Indians, or you say
you have. If you tell the truth, there is no time left for deliberation;
if a falsehood--"

"Why should we wait upon the road to question and wonder?" said Telie
Doe, with a boldness and firmness that at another moment would have
excited surprise; "why should we wait here, while the Indians may be
approaching? The forest is open, and the Lower Ford is free."

"If you can yet lead us thither," said Roland, eagerly, "all is not yet
lost. We can neither advance nor return. On, maiden, for the love of
Heaven!"

These hasty expressions revealed to Edith the deep and serious light in
which her kinsman regarded their present situation, though at first
seeking to hide his anxiety under a veil of composure. In fact, there was
not an individual present on whom the fatal news of the vicinity of the
redman had produced a more alarming impression than on Roland. Young,
bravo, acquainted with war, and accustomed to scenes of blood and peril,
it is not to be supposed that he entertained fear on his own account; but
the presence of one whom he loved, and whom he would have rescued from
danger, at any moment, at the sacrifice of his own life thrice over, was
enough to cause, and excuse, a temporary fainting of spirit, and a desire
to fly the scene of peril, of which, under any other circumstances, he
would have been heartily ashamed. The suddenness of the terror--for up to
the present moment he had dreamed of no difficulty comprising danger, or
of no danger implying the presence of savages in the forest--had somewhat
shocked his mind from its propriety, and left him in a manner unfitted to
exercise the decision and energy so necessary to the welfare of his
feeble and well-nigh helpless followers. The vastness of his
embarrassment, all disclosed at once,--his friends and fellow-emigrants
now far away; the few miles which he had, to the last, hoped separated
him from them, converted into leagues; Indian enemies at hand; advance
and retreat both alike cut off; and night approaching fast, in which,
without a guide, any attempt to retreat through the wild forest would be
as likely to secure his destruction as deliverance;--these were
circumstances that crowded into his mind with benumbing eff