to look upon an Indian face again! Yet that body must be buried
deep in the ground, and in a spot known only to us both, where none
may violate the dead. You have promised to obey me in all things.
This is the first charge upon you. Let us go--the night is fast
approaching, and the place remains to be reached, and the grave is
to be dug. By to-morrow's dawn we travel together and alone
through the wilderness, in execution of the will of your friend
and my husband. Mark that, Wau-nan-gee! It is his will that we
travel together--that you shall be my guide and protector. See
this dress, how well it disguises me. I shall be taken, as we
journey, for your squaw. Ha! ha! That will be excellent, will it
not? Maria Heywood--Ronayne's wife--the mistress of a fiend--then
Wau-nan-gee's squaw--and not yet six weeks married to the first!"

She suddenly paused, put her hand to her brow--seemed to reflect,
and then turning to Wau-nan-gee, inquired why he lingered so long
and wherefore he did not replace the body in the litter and depart.

With a pensive and serious mien the youth, who had been still
kneeling, absorbed in sorrow at the strange coldness of Mrs.
Ronayne's manner, and afraid to disturb her in a distraction which
he comprehended more from her looks and actions than her language,
now rose, and saying something in a low tone to his companions,
who had also regarded her throughout with silent surprise, the
covering on which the body of the unfortunate officer reposed, was
placed upon the blanket, which four of the party held extended,
and at the direction of Wau-nan-gee the whole proceeded towards
the forest.

When this strange and dispiriting scene had terminated, Lieut.
Elmsley, who felt at each moment in a greater degree the uselessness
of any interference in his powerless position, was rejoiced that
at least the last moments of his friend had been consoled by the
presence of his wife; he was led to hope that it had been the result
of a momentarily-disordered brain, on which despair had now wreaked
its worst, and which, therefore, might be expected to regain a
stronger if not its wonted tone when the bitterness of grief should
have somewhat subsided.

Proposing to prevail on Winnebeg to obtain for him a meeting with
her on the morrow, when the remains of her husband should have been
consigned to their rude resting-place, he returned towards his
party, whom he found in the act of covering up the bodies which
they had,