us dimly foreshadowing the glory that
was to be--the freedom which, just one hundred years from that eventful
period, burst upon the world. He was not permitted, like Simeon of old,
to see the salvation for which he longed, and for which he wrought. And
yet he helped to plant the germ, which expanded into the wide-spreading
tree, and his name should not be forgotten by those who rejoice in its
fruit, or rest secure beneath its shade.

Thus whiling away the hours of the night in such engrossing subjects,
Hansford had nearly forgotten his sorrows in the visions of the future.
How beneficent the Providence which thus enables the mind to receive
from without entirely new impressions, which soften down, though they
cannot erase, the wounds that a harsh destiny has inflicted.

But it is time that the thread of our narrative was broken, in order to
follow the fortunes of an humble, yet worthy character of our story.

CHAPTER XXIV.

"I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch,
Uncapable of pity, void and empty
From any claim of mercy."
_Merchant of Venice._

It was on a bright and beautiful morning--for mysterious nature often
smiles on the darkest deeds of her children--that a group of Indians
were assembled around the council-fire in one of the extensive forest
ranges of Virginia. Their faces painted in the most grotesque and
hideous manner, the fierceness of their looks, and the savageness of
their dress, would alone have inspired awe in the breast of a spectator.
But on the present occasion, the fatal business in which they were
engaged imparted even more than usual wildness to their appearance and
vehemence to their manner. Bound to a neighbouring tree so tightly as to
produce the most acute pain to the poor creature, was an aged negro, who
seemed to be the object of the vehement eloquence of his savage captors.
Although confinement, torture, and despair had effected a fearful
change, by tracing the lines of great suffering on his countenance, yet
it would not have been difficult even then to recognize in the poor
trembling wretch our old negro friend at Windsor Hall.

After discovering the deception that had been practised on them by
Mamalis, and punishing the selfish ambition of Manteo, by expelling him
from their tribe, the Indian warriors returned to Windsor Hall, and
finding the family had escaped, seized upon old Giles as the