72 The Ravine of the Unburied Dead. I^JuLV, 



young Peruvian, she would look on him as the authorized guardian of 

 her happiness. 



Meanwhile Ualla, surrounded by the maids and matrons whom Her- 

 nando's gentle care had placed about her peison, sate without her dwell- 

 ing to taste the faint breezes of a tropical evening, and to watch with 

 unceasing gaze for the return of her sire and her lover. She gazed on 

 Nature in the loneliness and majesty of the scene, until the calm of 

 all around her insinuated itself, at length, into her own bosom. Busy 

 feet, and busier voices, broke on her repose. Ualla inquires for her 

 sire — for her generous protector. The restless tongue of female exag- 

 geration — alike in aU ages and countries, and ever loving better the 

 importance attached to the bearer of evil tidings than the sober joy of 

 communicating dull reality — reports to the young Peruvian that her 

 sire and her lover are lying, side by side, cold and lifeless, in the 

 " Ravine of the Unburied Dead !" Ualla received the intelligence as 

 an archer of her own country would have received the rival shat\ which 

 pierced his vitals. She stood for a moment erect, unmoved ; then fell a 

 helpless, prostrate, yet unmoaning victim. But a gentle hand soon 

 raised her — a gentle arm supported her — a voice, which brought return- 

 ing life in its tones, came on her ear. With a gratitude to Heaven 

 which sought in vain for vulgar utterance, Ualla recognized her pro- 

 mised husband, and, clasping his knees, demanded of him her sire. — 

 " O ! Hernando, returned to bless my eyes, where is my father }" — 

 " Before His throne, my Ualla, who shall judge between the oppressor 

 and the oppressed. Look up, my love, look up ; there is mercy mixed 

 with bitterness. I come the legal, the authorized protector of your 

 gentle existence. I return armed with power to heal the wounds of your 

 oppressed race. I come to fulfil the wishes of your sire ; to watch over 

 the happiness of his loved child ; to restore weal and peace to his injured 

 tribe. I come to dry the filial tears of Ualla, by a life devoted to her 

 happiness. I come to call, with her, these wailing mountaineers — to 

 kneel before the Being whom they shall no more hate as the God of the 

 cruel Spaniards !'' 



STAKZAS. 



It is not in the mountains, in the palaces of pride. 



That Love, the winged wizard, is contented to abide; 



In meek and humble spirits his truest home is found. 



As the lark, that sings in heaven, builds its nest upon the ground. 



His cradle is the lily, by the breath of summer stirred— 

 For Love is often shaken by the whispering of a word ; 

 His smile is in the sunsliine, and his voice is in the glades — 

 Oh ! that winter should o'ertake him with its silence and its shades ! 



B. 



