ith
our bare hands alone. We at length decided to burn both the bodies, and
I forthwith set about the construction of a funeral pyre. Fortunately,
we had the forest close at hand; the ground beneath the trees was
abundantly strewn with dry leaves, twigs, and branches, and thus I had
not far to go for fuel. By the time that darkness closed in I had
accumulated a goodly pile close to the edge of the open amphitheatre,
and thither I at length conveyed both the bodies, laid them on the top
of the pyre, and finally ignited the heap of dried leaves which I had
arranged in the centre.

This done, Smellie came out of the hut, and we stood side by side
mournfully watching the crematory process. Naturally, we were very
keenly distressed at the untimely and tragic fate which had overtaken
our staunch little friend Daphne. She had been so cheerful, so helpful,
and--particularly during Smellie's illness--so tender, so gentle, so
sympathetic, and so tireless in her ministrations, that, unconsciously
to ourselves, we had acquired for her quite a fraternal affection. As I
stood there watching the fierce, bright flames which were steadily
reducing her body to ashes, and recalled to mind the countless services
she had rendered us during the short period of our mutual wanderings,
and, above all, the fervent compassion which had moved her to a
voluntary and permanent abandonment of home and friends for the sake of
two helpless strangers of a race entirely alien to her own, my heart
felt as though it would burst with sorrow at her cruel fate. As for
Smellie, trembling with weakness and depressed in spirits as he was
after his recent sharp attack of fever, he completely broke down, and,
laying his head upon my shoulder, sobbed like a child. Poor Daphne! it
seemed hard that she should thus, in the first bright flush and glory of
her maidenhood, be struck down, and the light of her life extinguished
by the ruthless hand of a murderer; and yet, perhaps, after all, it was
better so, better that she should enjoy the bliss of laying down her
life for the sake of the man she loved, rather than that, living on, she
should see the day when all the vague, indefinite hopes and aspirations
of her innocent, unsophisticated heart would crumble into ashes in a
moment, and the man who, all unknowingly, had become the autocrat of her
fate and the recipient of her blind, passionate, unreasoning love should
lightly and smilingly bid her an eternal fare