362 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



husband ; but no it was impossible ; his arm had 

 received the bullet, her silence was the result of 

 sudden terror, the blood that flowed over him was 

 from his own wound. He was still flying from his 

 treacherous and invisible foe, when his howling 

 warriors came almost instinctively to join him ; and, 

 before he reached the forest, he found himself sur- 

 rounded by the most trusty of his followers. " It is 

 the pirate," he whispered to his wife ; and then, 

 pressing a kiss upon her lips, he laid her softly upon 

 the grass, stepped forward into the midst of his 

 warriors, and uttered his terrible war-cry. " Behold," 

 cried he, pointing to the blazing cottages, " the faith 

 of the white thief ! " 



It was a wildly beautiful, almost an awful sight. 

 Already more than thirty huts were converted into 

 blazing piles, lighting up the whole of that glorious 

 shore, reflected in ruddy brilliancy from the still 

 surface of the water, and illuminating the avenues 

 of cypress and mangroves with long streaks of flame. 

 Scattered shots were still heard, and after each report 

 another hut began to blaze. In the group of Indians 

 assembled round El Sol a deep silence now reigned, 

 only broken by the tardy arrival of some yelling 

 Pawnee or Oconee, who, roused out of his drunken 

 slumber, was scarcely even yet aware of the cause of 

 the uproar. 



" Where is the Miko 1 " fifty voices suddenly de- 

 manded. 



