forth a prolonged whoop.

"My boy! My husband! We shall meet, we shall all meet in Heaven!" she
cried.

But why did not the Indians approach? She listened, looked around, and
soon saw them flying with the speed of frighted deer across the space
of cleared land, illuminated by the bright glare, to the covert of the
wood. She did not pause to consider what had caused their flight; but,
obeying that instinct which bids us shun the present danger, perhaps
to encounter a greater more remote, she sprang from the tree, and
rushed towards the river. She recollected a spot where the bank
projected, beneath which, during the summer months, the bed of the
river was nearly dry; there she should, at least, be secure from the
fire.

And there she sheltered herself. Her feet were immersed in water, and
she stood in a stooping posture to screen herself from observation,
should the Indians return to seek her. In the mean time, her little
boy slumbered peacefully, and regardless of surrounding perils. None
of her fears or dangers disturbed his repose; and, when the morning
light allowed her to gaze on his sweet face, lit up by the smiles of
infantile joy, as he beheld the maternal eyes beaming love upon him,
tears of bliss and thankfulness flowed fast down her cheeks that she
had been enabled thus to shield that dear innocent from death.

Soon after the sun had risen she heard sounds as of people
approaching, and soon recognised the voices of her friends from the
garrison. She was conveyed, with her child, to the fort, which her
husband had left, she learned, about sunset the preceding evening.
Nothing was known, or could be discovered, of his fate; no track nor
trace remained to show whether he was to be reckoned among the dead or
the living.

* * * * *

The husband of her, whose escape from the wrath of red men I have
related to the Iroquois, was returning from the fort to his own
habitation, soon after the damps of evening were abroad on the earth.
He was joyous and merry at the thought of embracing his beloved wife
and child, and whistled and sang, as he went, like a lark in the
morning. Just as he was entering the edge of a deep valley, which lay
between his cabin and the protected dwellings of his friends, four
Pequods rushed from the thick woods upon him. One of them seized his
rifle before he had time to use it; while another struck him a blow on
the head with his tomahawk, which deprived hi