1831.] The Ravine of the Unburied Dead. 5$ 



chamber, the fatlier and daughter seemed, with mutual gaze, to be 

 marking what changes time and affliction had made in their personal 

 appearance. The cazique was the first to break silence. With a re- 

 lapse into his sternness of tone, he demanded, " And what treatment hast 

 thou received at the hands of yon robber-idolaters?" — " Gentle, and 

 kind, and honourable treatment," replied Ualla, meekly. " Goto, daugh- 

 ter ; this is no time to jest. I may hardly believe that the whole land 

 of the Sun hath been pillaged of its treasures, drenched in the gore of 

 its inhabitants, and trodden under foot by its lawless conquerors, while 

 one feeble and defenceless damsel hath found solitary grace in their 

 eyes. Answer me truly then, as in the presence of that orb whose 

 rising I may no more behold, what treatment hast thou met at the hands 

 of your cruel victors ?"— " They are not all cruel," answered Ualla, ti- 

 midly. " The second chief who commands our foe hath a gentler and 

 a kinder nature than his brethren. His protection hath procured Ualla 

 lite, fair treatment, and honourable respect. To him our fallen country 

 oweth aught that hath softened the conqueror's fierceness ; and, oh ! my 

 father, but for his guardian hand these loved and honoured limbs would, 

 ere this, have been either stretched to torture on their demon-engine, or 

 whitening in the mountain breeze." 



" Star of stars— I praise thee !" ejaculated Alpahula— " What though 

 thou hast suffered the foe and the idolater to triumph in thine own land,^ 

 — what though tliou hast withdrawn thy beams from the hoar head of 

 thy prostrate worshipper — yet hast thou not forsaken his child. En- 

 lightener of darkness, I bless thee."— " But, oh! my father," said the 

 daughter, sinking from the neck to the knees of her parent, " will you 

 not avoid the dark hour that now awaits you ? — To what purpose — with 

 what hope can you now conceal your glittering hordes ? — Shall they 

 serve the cause of our country in you dark caves where the blessed sun 

 never calls to light their dazzling brightness, where the damp veil of 

 night shrouds and tarnishes their lusti-e ? The gentle, the noble Spanish 

 cazitjue, Fernando Di Valverde, hath sent me here to move your pur- 

 pose. He throws himself at your feet in my person, and beseecheth you 

 to think well on the fate that awaits you. He hath prevailed on his 

 brother chief to delay his cruel fiat until your daughter could be sum- 

 moned from the refuge lier brave captor had assigned her, to supplicate 

 you to sliew mercy on yourself. The young Fernando hath even delayed 

 my coming, to give you yet time to change your stern decision. Ualla's 

 voice may be powerless with you, but Fernando's yovi cannot resist. 

 The sun, rising in his strength, and looking red and angry through the 

 storm-clouds of heaven, that would hide his shining course, is not more 

 terrible than the glorious young Spaniard to those who cross his path. 

 The moon, shining softly on a dwelling of woe, is not more gentle than 

 he to the feeble and vanquished ; and the evening breeze of the south, 

 sighing sadly over the flowers that close at sunset, is not softer than his 

 voice to woman in her hour of darkness and extremity. Let the beauti- 

 ful Eastern cazique see you, beloved giver of my days, and your pur- 

 pose shall be changed. I vaunt not idly the power of his words — I 

 have myself known and felt their wondrous influence. Aye, strange to 

 utter, even your words, my father (the reason I divine not), come not on 

 my ear with such- sweet persuasion. — Shall he be summoned to save you 

 from your own stern purpose ?" 



The caziciue, while his child spoke, eyed her with an inquisitiveness 



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