r, and tell him we
wait for entrance."

With nearly the speed enjoined the adjutant departed. Scarcely a minute
elapsed when he again stood upon the rampart, and advancing closely to
the major, whispered a few words in his ear.

"Good God! can it be possible? When? How came this? but we will enquire
later. Open the gate; down with the bridge, Leslie," addressing the
officer of the guard.

The command was instantly obeyed. The officers flew to receive the
fugitives; and as the latter crossed the drawbridge, the light of a
lantern, that had been brought from the guard-room, flashed full upon
the harassed countenances of Captain and Miss de Haldimar, Francois the
Canadian, and the devoted Oucanasta.

Silent and melancholy was the greeting that took place between the
parties: the voice spoke not; the hand alone was eloquent; but it was
in the eloquence of sorrow only that it indulged. Pleasure, even in
this almost despaired of re-union, could not be expressed; and even the
eye shrank from mutual encounter, as if its very glance at such a
moment were sacrilege. Recalled to a sense of her situation by the
preparation of the men to raise the bridge, the Indian woman was the
first to break the silence.

"The Saganaw is safe within his fort, and the girl of the pale faces
will lay her head upon his bosom," she remarked solemnly. "Oucanasta
will go to her solitary wigwam among the red skins."

The heart of Madeline de Haldimar was oppressed by the weight of many
griefs; yet she could not see the generous preserver of her life, and
the rescuer of the body of her ill-fated cousin, depart without
emotion. Drawing a ring, of some value and great beauty, from her
finger, which she had more than once observed the Indian to admire, she
placed it on her hand; and then, throwing herself on the bosom of the
faithful creature, embraced her with deep manifestations of affection,
but without uttering a word.

Oucanasta was sensibly gratified: she raised her large eyes to heaven
as if in thankfulness; and by the light of the lantern, which fell upon
her dark but expressive countenance, tears were to be seen starting
unbidden from their source.

Released from the embrace of her, whose life she had twice preserved at
imminent peril to her own, the Indian again prepared to depart; but
there was another, who, like Madeline, although stricken by many
sorrows, could not forego the testimony of his heart's gratitude.
Captain de Haldimar, w