1831.] The Ravine of (he Unburied Dead. 65 



Juan only saw in this sudden change of Alpahuk's determination the 

 act of a man terrified by the immediate pi-ospect of physical suffering ; 

 Hernando believed that it might resuh from some generous wish to save 

 his daughter's protector from the consequences of forcibly resisting 

 Alcantara's cruelty ; but Ualla saw by the keen, the undaunted, the 

 almost exulting expression of her father's eye, that some deep and name- 

 less reason had prompted his sudden comphance. Juan now eagerly 

 leaned over the victim of his avarice to catch from his Hps that golden 

 secret which would prove the clue to riches and splendour. The chief, 

 however, protested that the cave which secured his treasures lay in some 

 deep and lone recess of the Andes to which it was impossible to dii-eot 

 his conquerors, but he offered himself to be their guide to the precious 

 deposit. Juan Di Alcantara hesitated for a montient — then eagerly closed 

 with the cazique's offer, and fearful of allowing his prisoner time to 

 change his resolution, named the morrow's earliest dawni for the com- 

 mencement of the expedition. Ualla, scarce knowing what she demanded, 

 what she feared, vehemently supplicated to be allowed to accompany 

 her parent. Juan heard her request as he would that of a silly child ; 

 and the three rival chiefs agreed in peremptorily refusing her com- 

 pliance ; Juan, because, he deemed she would prove a hindrance to the 

 expedition ; Hernando, because he feared she might be exposed to 

 danger ; and the cazique for reasons of a similar nature, or for others 

 which he did not choose to reveal. 



Long before the sudden and glowing blush of a tropical sunrise had 

 crimsoned the eastern sky, Ualla appeared, on the succeeding day, within 

 the walls of her father's prison. " Thou comest to bid me farewell," he 

 said, apparently unable to restrain the kindness of his parental feelings ; 

 " I could have wished that thou hadst this morn forgotten thy filial 

 homage. But it matters not. Come hither, apostate child of the sun" — 

 (he embraced her tenderly) — " God of my days and of the light that hath 

 so long gilded them, forgive this embrace — forgive the feelings of nature, 

 which cannot close themselves against this forsaker of her shining creator. 

 Farewell — Ualla, farewell ! Yet once again" (he bestowed another 

 embrace) ; " and now I charge thee begone. Yet hold — thy Spanish 

 protector — he who hath seduced thee from thy god hath dared yester- 

 even to ask, aye, to supplicate, thee of me for a bi'ide. Ualla, I do con- 

 fess that there is in the sjieech and bearing of that sightly youth wliat 

 might, perhaps, feebly plead thy excuse for the abandonment of thy 

 maker, and the misplacings of thy young affections: some difficulty have 

 even I found in closing my bosom against him : but I charge thee, Ualla, 

 by the soul of thy mother, now walking in light, and clothed with sunr 

 beams, reward not the betrayer of thy soul by yielding him thy hand. 

 He is the most wily, and therefore the most dangerous, of our powerful 

 invaders. Source of light and life, I now behold the wisdom of thy 

 ways ! If all the children of the east resembled that brave and per- 

 suasive Spaniard, thou wouldst soon look in vain from thy shining throne 

 to behold one suppliant knee in Peru. O close my bosom against him ! 

 Daugiiter, thou may'st yet return to the truth. Thou may'st yet bow 

 before the radiant cause of all things. Close not up for ever thy way to 

 him by giving thyself to his enemy. Farewell! — Thou weepest as if thy 

 very life were bound in this idolator. Hold! — Look me stedfastly in the 

 face, Ualla. Thou hast seen that of late I am become a strange changer 



IVr.M. Nc7v Scries.— Vol. XII. No. 07. K 



