tancy, as if they would be a
security against any unfortunate consequence of the imprudence she was
going to commit. She ended by believing all he said, and by consenting
to become his wife and the companion of his escape. "But I cannot go
to thy tribe," said she, "for then thou wouldst be obliged to raise
the tomahawk against my people, and I may not abide in the habitation
of him who seeks to spill the blood of my friends. If thou wilt take
me for the guide of thy path, I will bring thee to a hiding-place
where the arrows of thy enemies cannot reach thee, and where we may
remain sheltered till this cloud of war be overpast."

The youth hesitated. "Nay then," continued she, "I may not go with
thee. I will cut thy cords, and the Good Spirit will guide thee to the
land of thy friends."

This was enough: love prevailed for once over the desire of warlike
glory, in the bosom of a descendant of the Mohawks, and it was settled
that the flight should take place that night.

They had just arrived at this conclusion when the man who guarded the
prisoner returned. He had been absent the longer because the eagle
had changed his perch, and had alighted on a tree at a still greater
distance than at first. He had succeeded in bringing down the bird,
and was now displaying its huge wings with great satisfaction at the
success of his aim. The maiden pulled from them a handful of the long
gray feathers, as the reward of having shown the prize to the guard,
and departed.

The midnight of that day found the captive awake in the cabin, and his
keepers stretched on a mat asleep at the door. They had begun to
regard him with less vigilance because he had made no attempt, and
shown no disposition, to escape. He thought he heard the light sound
of a footstep approaching; he raised his head, and listened
attentively. Was it the rustling of leaves in the neighbouring wood
that deceived him, or the heavily drawn breath of the sleepers, or the
weltering of the river on whose banks the village stood, or the
crawling of some beast of prey through the thicket, or the moving of a
spirit? These were the only sounds he was now able to distinguish. A
ray of moonlight shone through a crevice in the cabin, and fell across
the body of his sleeping guards. As his eye rested on this, he saw it
gradually widening, and, soon after, the mat that hung over the
opening which served for a door-way was wholly withdrawn, and the
light figure of the maiden appea