An attempt to
describe her manner and accent would be futile, and would detract from
the simple dignity and sweetness with which she uttered the words. We
leave the reader from his own imagination to fill up the picture which
we can only draw in outline. Bernard saw and felt the power of religion
in the heart of this poor savage, and he hesitated what course he should
pursue. He knew that her strongest feeling in life had been her
affection for her brother. That had been the chord which earliest
vibrated in her heart, and which as her heart expanded only increased in
tension that added greater sweetness to its tone. It was on this broken
string, so rudely snapped asunder, that he resolved to play--hoping thus
to strike some harsh and discordant notes in her gentle heart.

"You had a brother, Mamalis," he said, abruptly; "the voice of your
brother's blood calls to you from the ground."

"My brother!" shrieked the girl, startled by the suddenness of the
allusion.

"Aye, your murdered brother," said Bernard, marking with pleasure the
effect he had produced, "and it is in your power to avenge his death.
Dare you do it?"

"Oh, my brother, my poor lost brother," she sobbed, the stoical
indifference of the savage, pressed out by the crushed heart of the
sister, "if by this hand thy death could be avenged."

"By your hand he can be avenged," said Bernard, seeing her pause. "It
has not yet been done. That stupid knave, in a moment of vanity, claimed
for himself the praise of having murdered a chieftain, but the brave
Manteo fell by more noble hands than his."

"In God's name, who do you mean?" asked Mamalis.

"I can only tell you that it is now in your power to surrender his
murderer to justice, and to his deserved fate."

Mamalis was silent. She guessed that it was Hansford to whom Bernard had
thus vaguely alluded. The struggle seemed to be a desperate one. There
in the clear starlight, with none to help, save Him, in whom she had
learned to trust, she wrestled with the tempter. But that dark scene of
her life, which still threw its shadow on her redeemed heart, again rose
up before her memory. The lesson was a blessed one. How often thus does
the recollection of a former sin guard the soul from error in the
future. Surely, in this, too, God has made the wrath of man to praise
him. With the aid thus given from on high, the trusting soul of Mamalis
triumphed over temptation.

"I know not why you tempt me thus, Mr. Ber