A LEGEND OF THE SAVANNAH.
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moments gained the old tree, where, as expected, she found her lover. " Zulmiera," said the young man, after the first greetings were passed, " I have suffered deeply in mind since we parted, on account of the strange words you let fall last evening ; and I now seek your presence to demand, as your affianced husband, their signification. Tell me, Zulmiera, thine whole heart, or as Willy Shakspeare saith— "
If thou dost love me, Shew me thy thought?"
Accosted in this sudden manner, and surprised by his serious demeanour, Zulmiera's caution forsook her, and bursting into tears, confessed to her lover, as best she could, the following facts. Having been treated with great scorn and harshness by the governor, and looking upon herself as the descendant of a line of chieftains, and consequently entitled to respect, a deep and irresistible feeling of revenge sprang up in her breast, and absorbed her every thought. Roaming, as she had ever been wont, amid the romantic dells and leafy labyrinths of her native islands, she came one evening upon a curious cavern ; her love of novelty led her to inspect it, but in the act of doing so, she was driven back in alarm by the sight of a flashing pair of eyes. Unable to suppress her fears, yet too much overcome by the encounter to fly, she leant against the rocky opening of the cave ; when, rushing from his concealment, a powerful man, whom she immediately recognised as a Carib, darted upon her, and placing his hand upon her mouth to prevent her screams from being heard, was about to bear her away as his captive. Terrified as she was, she still had the presence of mind to declare her origin, and claim his forbearance, on the score of their allied blood. To such a plea, a Carib's heart is never deaf ; the grasp upon the shoulder was relaxed ; the armed warrior stood quietly by her side ; and a conversation