her cave, and, by slow degrees, peering on every side for some
concealed enemy, she emerged into the light, and dropping noiselessly
into the stream, swam to a point on the opposite shore, from which she
could obtain a good view of the recent encampment. It was deserted and
still. Not a trace was left behind, except the trampled grass, and the
blackened embers.

Recrossing the stream, she commenced, with a light step, and a hopeful
spirit, the seemingly impossible task of finding her way back to her
home and her people. The consciousness of freedom buoyed her up, and
inspired her with a new hope, at almost every step. With a light heart,
and an elastic step, she bounded away over the desolate waste, that lay
between the river and the forest, having neither path, nor track, nor
land-mark, to guide her way, and with nothing but the instinct of
affection to point out the course she should take. She had been so
absorbed with her many griefs, during the long and weary march hitherto,
and so little did she dream of the possibility of escape, that she had
scarcely taken any notice of the direction, or attempted to observe any
land-marks to guide her return. The way by which she had been led was
circuitous and irregular, and she had only the vague general ideas, that
her home was near "the star that never moves," and that she had been
leaving her shadow behind, to aid her in her solitary wanderings. With a
hopeful courageous heart, she sought only to widen the distance between
her cruel captors and herself, trusting that her way would open as she
went, and that her guardian angel, her tutelar divinity, would keep her
from going astray. _Her_ tutelar divinity was the moon, whose light and
protection she invoked, with a devout, if not an enlightened faith.
While she could enjoy her mild clear light, she was always happy and
secure; but when those beams were withdrawn, a shadow came over her soul
that was full of dark forebodings and anxious fears.

She had travelled several leagues, without seeing a track of any kind,
and without the consciousness of fatigue or hunger. When night came on,
she was just entering a deep forest, whose impenetrable shade made a
sudden transition from twilight to utter darkness. With no star to guide
her, and with no appearance of a path through thickets which seemed
never to have been penetrated by a human footstep, she was soon
bewildered, and felt that it was vain to proceed. With a few half-ripe