THE MALEDICTION. 545 



the woods, yelling like a wild beast ! When our surprise, for we did not 

 suffer it to go further, had in a measure subsided, the Indian, whom I 

 have described as the peace-maker between us, approached me, and with 

 an exquisitely ludicrous expression, tapped his forehead with his finger 

 three times. I laughed, in my turn, and the party grew obstreperously 

 merry. The moon at length rose upon our vigils, and after a series of 

 gesticulations, which I was informed was a dance our dusky visitants de- 

 parted. 



From that hour forward, for the space of a year my life was an unin- 

 terrupted round of quiet happiness. My Emily loved me fervently, 

 and the affections of the family were concentrated upon me. At the ex- 

 piration of a year, New Hope was visited by a lovely boy. Every eye 

 was beaming with delight could mine be otherwise ? I did partake of 

 the general joy, but it was tempered with a dash of fear, for which I 

 could not but reproach myself. Yet my feelings were not wholly unna- 

 tural. It is the accumulation of treasure which brings an increase of 

 pain to the miser's heart ; and, in like manner, as I found my slender 

 hoard increasing, the fear of losing it overshadowed my soul ! 



But I had no cause for fear, the boy grew rapidly ; nursed by his mo- 

 ther's assiduity and gladdened by her smiles, he became a goodly cherub, 

 and most pleasant for a parent's eye to look upon. If there had been a 

 deadly breach at New Hope, the birth of that child would have ce- 

 mented all ; but as it was, every heart throbbing with affection, the cup 

 of concord was filled " e'en to o'erflowing full." 



Cecil he bore my unhappy name ! was in his sixth year, and a 

 sturdy urchin he was becoming when I first began to inure him to 

 ramble in the woods. With the keen sense of the forest-born he enjoyed 

 the sport in which he could not participate, and he would bestride the 

 yet quivering body of a fallen deer with as strong a zest as ever hunter 

 shewed in rushing into " the death." We had been out together one 

 day I remember well I had no wish to go that day, but he was par- 

 ticularly urgent, and a glance from the bright eyes of his mother settled 

 the matter and the poor boy became sooner tired than usual. I mounted 

 him, as was my wont, upon my shoulder, and went off at a rapid pace, 

 he amusing himself the while by snatching at the slender branches and 

 the berries which overhung him. As we passed on a peculiarly beau- 

 tiful berry caught his attention, and he insisted on gathering some to 

 make a necklace for his mother. Pleased with my child's solicitude, I 

 set him down until I could .procure the desired fruit ; but seeing some 

 yet larger and riper further on, I quitted him for a moment but a mo- 

 ment to snatch a luminous branch, when a faint cry apprized me of 

 his danger. I flew to the spot, and found him weltering in his innocent 

 blood ! Vengeful had been the hand that dealt the blow his neck was 

 half severed by a tomahawk. I uttered one suppressed shriek of agony, 

 which was briefly echoed by a yell of triumph and a rustling in the 

 trees. I believe I was gifted with superhuman vision. I caught the 

 gleam of an eye amid the foliage I fired my rifle, and an Indian sprang 

 from the thicket and expired within a few yards of me. The report of 

 my piece increased my danger. The fiend had an accomplice in the 

 wood, for in less than a second my cap was struck from my head by the 

 launching of another knife. Enraged as I was, I would not suffer my- 

 self thus to fight at disadvantage. I resumed the bleeding body of my 

 child and made for our habitation. 



M.M. No. 83. 2 O 



