THE RAJP00TNI BRIDE. 
159 
accepted the suppliant’s offering, giving him assurance 
of success, upon which the spiritual tribute was 
doubled. The unholy worshipper then quitted the 
presence of the divinity to whom he had been taught 
thus to exhibit his demoniacal homage, with the con- 
fidence of a divine sanction for any act of desperate 
retribution he might commit. 
The morning broke brightly upon the slumbers of the 
indignant father ; he awoke with the heavens smiling 
above and around him, but with a hell burning in his 
heart. Mounting his charger, he proceeded in silence 
at the head of his followers towards the abode of his 
hereditary foe. His impatience of revenge rendered the 
journey long and distasteful. A raven perched upon 
a tree on the roadside as he passed, presented an un- 
favourable omen ; nevertheless, assured by the pro- 
mises of the Brahmin, he interpreted it in his own 
favour and to the prejudice of him by whom he had 
been so grievously wronged. His soul was parched 
with a thirst which nothing but the blood of his 
enemy could appease. Halting his little troop after 
sunset under a large grove of trees, he ordered 
them to refresh themselves with food and rest and 
waited impatiently for the dawn. The night was 
calm, but deepened by the shadows of the surround- 
ing groves. The scene " suited the gloomy habit of 
his soul,” which was as sombre as the prospect imme- 
diately around him. Nature at length gave way, and, 
even under the inflictions of his own fierce passions, he 
slept. The moon rose, and traversed the blue plains 
of heaven like a fair angel of light, heralded by stars 
and embracing in her retinue the glories of a universe ,* 
