rushed in, expecting to meet their enemies: but the
warriors were absent, and the rough but generous foe disdained to wreak
vengeance upon old men, women, and children. All were taken prisoners,
and the cabins were fired: but how great was their amazement, upon
coming to the larger, handsomer wigwam of Towandahoc, which they
concluded from its appearance to belong to a sachem, to see there,
shrinking back with terror, a fair young girl of their own blood! Few
words could she speak in English, and but little could she understand of
that tongue which for ten years she had not heard spoken, except by
herself in prayer; she had even forgotten her own former name. Great was
the excitement when the news flew through the band, that a lost or
stolen child was recovered, and all rushed eagerly to see her. And she,
what mingled feelings filled her heart! Childish memories of just such
men crowded into her mind. She was lost in wonder and vague remembrance.
Just then, full of ardor, there rushed forward a youth of twenty, who
exclaimed the moment his eyes fell upon her, "It _is_ she! I knew she
was living! It is little Emily Buckingham!" As she gazed upon his open
brow, round which the crisp black curls were clustered, and heard the
long-forgotten name, she was troubled--she thought of the boy who held
her hand as she leaned over the edge of the stream to watch the mimic
boat, and with faltering tongue she repeated her name.

"The voice and all! Do you not see, comrades, how she resembles her
mother, Ellen Buckingham? Oh, hasten homeward, to give joy to the hearts
of her father and mother!"

"Father, mother, dead. Towandahoc, Ponawtan, Indian father, mother."

After some difficulty, Roland Markley, for it was really he, succeeded
in explaining to her that her parents still lived: and against her tears
and prayers, determined at once to break all bonds with her Indian
home, they tore her away, without waiting for the return of Towandahoc
and Ponawtan; but left their wigwam standing, out of gratitude for the
care they had taken of the child. The Indians had made an incursion into
the territory of the whites, and committed many ravages, and it was with
the intention of breaking up their villages, and driving them away, that
this expedition had been undertaken. The prisoners they had captured
were ransomed on condition of their removal, and the whole tribe passed
to the other side of the Alleghanies.

As the band travelled homeward