, we
will, with the reader, return once more to the mountain side where
we met Komel and Aphiz.

In time of peace, or rather when there was no open outbreak between
the Circassians and the Russian forces, Aphiz Adegah passed his time
in hunting among the rugged hills and cliffs, and with the early
morn was abroad with his gun strapped to his back, and in his hand
the long iron-pointed staff that helped him to climb the otherwise
inaccessible rocks of the mountain's sides. Thus equipped, he came,
in the morning referred to above, to the cottage of Komel's parents,
but, instead of the cheerful, happy welcome that usually greeted him
on such occasions, he beheld consternation and misery written in the
father's face, while the mother wept as though her heart would
break.

"What means this strange scene?" asked the young hunter, hastily.
"Where is Komel?"

"Alas! gone, gone," sighed both.

"Gone!"

"Ay, gone forever."

"What mean you? whither has she gone? what has happened to render
you so miserable?"

"Alas, Aphiz; Komel has gone to be the star of some proud Turkish
harem," said the father.

"And with your consent?"

"No! O, no!"

"Nor by her own free will, that I know," he continued, quickly.

"Alas! no; this night she was stolen from us, and we saw her borne
away before our very eyes."

"Was there no one by to strike a blow for her, no one to render you
aid?"

"Yes, one there was, an honest friend who lives in the next cottage.
He was aroused by the noise, and outraged by the violence he beheld,
he rushed upon the thieves, but they struck him bleeding and dead to
the earth. It was a terrible sight and poor Komel saw it as they
carried her away, and uttered such a fearful, piercing scream that
it seems to ring in our cars even now. She fainted then in their
arms, and we saw her no more."

"Heaven guard her!" said Aphiz, with inward anguish expressed in his
face.

"Amen!" said the aged father, with a deep, heartfelt sigh, full of
sorrow.

This told the whole story of the previous night, and the last boat
that put off from, the shore for the clipper schooner contained
Komel as a prisoner, insensible to all about, abducted by her own
countrymen, incited by the revengeful spirit of Krometz. Actuated by
the vilest motives himself, he had persuaded a companion, as we have
seen, by a small bribe and the representation that Komel would in
reality be better off than with her parents, to aid him in his
ob