me with my deceit towards the ing all, and entreating his forgiveauthor of my days. But my earth- ness. Alas! I found him no more. ly punishment was to come. I With his dying breath he blessed adored my wife and child. In their my filial duty; and, at that awful caresses I tasted the only alleviation moment, remembering the virtues of my misery, when a sudden order of my Emilie, and believing her yet of my regiment to a foreign and single, he left his consent to our most unhealthy climate imposed on union. My sorrow, and the deep me the dreadful necessity of part- repentance that accompanied it, I ing with all I loved-for to ask my cannot describe-my health, imwife to leave her Rosalie, or take paired by the climate, quite gave her to those pestilential shores, way. On my recovery from a was impossible. My aged, my severe fever, my first proposal was injured father, too, I was forced to to set out immediately to claim that abandon, and this seemed to my beloved child, who was the only tie repentant heart the severest stroke we now possessed in our country. of all-for never might I again be- Alas! how inestimably dear. Think hold him-never make reparation then of the feelings of her doating for the days my unhappy passion mother, already faded by premature had embittered. Thank Heaven! cares and regret-think of the for his own peace, he knew not of anguish, of the remorse that rent my my guilt-as for mine it seemed heart, when on reaching the little gone forever. One consolation re- town you had inhabited, our utmost mained, I left my beloved and her endeavors could find no trace of child in the care of her excellent you. Three tedious years have aunt, and this a little reconciled me been consumed in almost hopeless to my hurried departure, not even traveling through France and the allowing me to breathe a painful neighboring countries in search adieu! What then were my feel- of our lost treasure. And now, ings on learning by a letter that when my Emilie's pale cheek and Emilie's aunt lay a corpse! De- sunken eye tells the tale of hope prived of her only friend in her own deferred,-when my spirits are country, she was determined to seek her sole protection in my arms, to share my dangers, and at least die with me. Yet to expose her child's tender age to the same dangers, was more than the heart of a mother could resolve. She happened to be well acquainted with one of your little pupils; had heard of your extreme kindness-the good character of your husband-and knowing no one else in whom she could confide, and the town where you lived being not more than ten miles from her abode, she formed the wild plan of trusting her Rosalie to a good and benevolent stranger. Heaven has blessed her intention, and it will reward your fidelity. Let me briefly pass over the long, sad years we spent abroad. My regiment was ordered home, and I returned with the resolution of throwing myself at my father's feet and confess so worn by disappointment as scarcely to be able to cheer hers, Heaven, which has doubtless chastised us in its mercy, relents, and permits two erring, but sincerely penitent beings, to clasp to their bosom the pledge of their early, sad, but misguided affection." The Count ceased, much affected, and evidently unable to continue." It is for me, dearest Sir," said Madame de Surville, "to fill up the blank in your narration, and accouut for the mysterious disappearance of my little family. During a period of ten years we regularly received your munificent allowance for the care of Rosalie. The last year of our remaining at F, whether in consequence of the approaching removal of your regiment, or what cause, you may perhaps explain, none reached us. It was indeed a year of calamity. I have mentioned our being Protestants, and we were now to find that to live in our own country and profess that religion was impossible. My scholars first dropped off; my husband's employment was taken from him: we underwent numerous persecutions; and at last had cause to think our liberty, if not our lives, in imininent danger. It was then we reaped the benefit of your generosity-the sums you had transmitted we had partly saved, intending them as a little resource for the dear girl in case of our death. Necessity was urgent. We had, thanks to this store, the means of flight, but to do so with safety, it was necessary to leave no trace of our steps. This we felt very distressing on your account, but less so as not having heard for nearly two years, we feared you were no more. Our place of retreat was this village, where we should have lived comfortably but for the villany of an agent who robbed us of most of our treasure. My poor husband is gone, and I had no consolation left but the goodness of my adopted child, and the sweet thought, that should you ever claim her, she would be found in beauty, innocence and virtue, worthy of any rank." The evening following that which witnessed the arrival of the Count as a solitary traveller to ask the hospitality of Madame de Surville's hearth, that hearth again blazed as brightly, but no longer were two figures alone seated beside it. Next to his adored daughter sat the Count de Larive; she still wore the peasant's cap and simple boddice, but her cheek was bright with a joy it had never known before, and her eyes sparkled with an almost heavenly radiance as she leaned on her fond father's shoulder, and playfully held up to him to kiss the gold cross, which had never been absent from her bosom since in childhood he had placed it there; and it had every day and night received the kisses of filial affection when the dear donors were unknown. Opposite them was the beautiful though faded form of the enraptured Emilie, as she gazed on the beloved pair, and showing Madame de Surville the well-known picture of her husband, now changed, but more endeared by time and sorrow. She dropped a tear on the ivory to the remembrance of past errors and trials, but a smile beamed around her lip which told of hopes of Heaven's forgiveness; and she felt its cheering influence confirmed as she saw her husband reverentially kiss the, to them sacred, symbol of the GOLD CROSS. "Is Ednam, then, so near me? I must gaze On Thomson's cradle-spot,as sweet a bard As ever graced the name,-and on the scenes That first to poesy awoke his soul." fate Mine own is sweetly mingled, on I stray'd The bright and soul-subduing lays of him, Whose fame is with his country's being mix'd, And cannot die;-until at length I gain'd And, in its simple quietude reveal'd, A rural church,-some scatter'd cottage roofs, From whose secluded hearths the thin blue smoke, Silently wreathing through the breezeless air, Ascended, mingling with the summer sky; A rustic bridge, mossy and weather-stain'd; A fairy streamlet, singing to itself; Now Ednam was before me-but the Of Thomson vanish'd, nor would coalesce stream Loses itself within the summer sea; In lineaments harmonious, it was not Alone I stood, lark Soar'd as she sang, less and less visible, Till but a voice mid Heaven's engulphing blue. Yet though the tones and smiles of Nature The heart rejoice, a shadow overspread A SCENE ON THE "COSTA FIRME." I was awakened by the low growling, and short bark of the dog. The night was far spent; the tiny sparks of the fire-flies that were glancing in the door-way, began to grow pale; the chirping of the crickets and lizards, and the snore of the tree-toad waxed fainter, and the wild cry of the tiger-cat was no longer heard. The terral, or landwind, which is usually strongest towards morning, moaned loudly on the hillside, and came rushing past with a melancholy sough, through the brushwood that surrounded the hut, shaking off the heavy dew from the palm and cocoa-nut trees, like large drops of rain, The hollow tap of the wood-pecker; the clear flute note of the Pavo del monte; the discordant shriek of the macaw; the shrill chirr of the wild Guinea fowl; and the chattering of the paroquets, began to be heard from the wood. The ill-omened gallinaso was sailing and circling round the hut, and the tall flamingo was stalking on the shallows of the lagoon, the haunt of the disgusting alligator, that lay beneath, divided from the sea by a narrow mud-bank, where a group of pelicans, perched on the wreck of one of our boats, were pluming themselves before taking wing. In the east, the deep blue of the firmament, from which the lesser stars were fast fading, all but the "Eye of Morn," was warming into magnificent purple, and the amber rays of the yet unrisen sun were shooting up, streamer-like, with intervals between, through the * See "The Quenching of the Torch" in the Atheneum for December 15, parting clouds, as they broke away with a passing shower, that fell like a veil of silver gauze between us and the first primrose-colored streaks of a tropical dawn. "That's a musket shot," said the Lieutenant. The Indian crept on his belly to the door, dropped his chin on the ground, and placed his open palms behind his ears. The distant wail of a bugle was heard, then three or four dropping shots again, in rapid succession. Mr. Splinter stooped to go forth, but the Indian caught him by the leg, utter ing the single word "Espanoles." On the instant, a young Indian woman, with a shrieking infant in her arms, rushed to the door. There was a blue gunshot wound in her neck, from which two or three large black clotting gouts of blood were trickling. Her long black hair was streaming in coarse braids, and her features were pinched and sharpened, as if in the agony of death. She glanced wildly behind, and gasped out "Escapa, Oreeque, escapa para mi soi, muerto ya." Another shot, and the miserable creature convulsively clasped her child, whose small shrill cry I often fancy I hear to this hour, blending with its mother's deathshriek, and, falling backwards, rolled over the brow of the hill out of sight. The ball had pierced the heart of the parent through the body of her offspring. By this time a party of Spanish soldiers had surrounded the hut, one of whom kneeling before the low door, pointed his musket into it. The Indian, who had seen his wife and child thus cruelly shot down before his face, now fired his rifle, and the man fell dead. Siga mi Querida Bondia-maltido." Then springing to his feet, and stretching himself to his full height, with his arms extended towards heaven, while a strong shiver shook him like an ague fit, he yelled forth the last words he ever uttered, "Venga la suerte, ya soi listo," and resumed his squatting position on the ground. Half a dozen musket balls were now fired at random through the wattles, while the Lieutenant, who spoke Spanish well, sung out lustily, that we were English officers who had been shipwrecked. "Mentira," growled the officer of the party, Piratas son ustedes." "Pirates leagued with Indian bravoes; fire the hut, soldiers, and burn the scoundrels!" There was no time to be lost; Mr. Splinter made a vigorous attempt to get out, in which I seconded him, with all the strength that remained to me, but they beat us back again with the butts of their muskets. "Where are your commissions, your uniforms, if you be British officers?"-We had neither, and our fate appeared inevitable. The doorway was filled with brushwood, fire was set to the hut, and we heard the crackling of the palm thatch, while thick stifling wreaths of white smoke burst in upon us through the roof. "Lend a hand, Tom, now or never, and kick up the dark man there," but he sat still as a statue. We laid our shoulders to the end wall, and hea ved at it with all our might; when we were nearly at the last gasp it gave way, and we rushed headlong into the middle of the party, followed by Sneezer with his shaggy coat, that was full of clots of tar blazing like a torch. He unseized ceremoniously (6 par le queue," the soldier who had throttled me, setting fire to the skirts of his coat, and blowing up his cartouch box. I believe, under Providence, that the ludicrousness of this attack saved us from being bayoneted on the spot. It gave time for Mr. Splinter to recover his breath, when, being a powerful man, he shook off the two soldiers who had seized him, and dashed into the burning hut again. I thought he was mad, especially when I saw him return with his clothes and hair on fire, dragging out the body of the captain. He unfolded the sail it was wrapped in, and pointing to the remains of the naval uniform in which the mutilated and putrifying corpse was dressed, he said sternly to the officer," We are in your power, and you may murder us if you will; but that was my captain four days ago, and you see, he at least was a British officer-satisfy yourself." The person he addressed, a handsome young Spaniard, with a clear olive complexion, oval face, small brown mustachios, and large black eyes, shuddered at the horrible spectacle, but did as he was requested. When he saw the crown and anchor, and his Majesty's cipher on the appointments of the dead officer, he became convinced of our quality, and changed his tone-" Es verdad, son de la marina Englesa; " "But, gentlemen, were there not three persons in the hut?" There were indeed-the flames had consumed the dry roof and walls with incredible rapidity, and by this time they had fallen in, but Oreeque was no where to be seen. I thought I saw something move in the midst of the fire, but it might have been fancy. Again the white ashes heaved, and a half-consumed hand and arm were thrust through the smouldering mass, then a human head, with the scalp burnt from the skull, and the flesh from the chaps and cheek-bones; the trunk next appeared, the bleeding ribs laid bare, and the miserable Indian, with his limbs like scorched rafters, stood upright before us, like a demon in the midst of the fire. He made no attempt to escape, but reeling to and fro like a drunken man, fell headlong, raising clouds of smoke and a shower of sparks in his fall. Alas! poor Oreeque, the newly risen sun was now shining on your ashes, and on the dead bodies of the ill-starred Bondia and her child, whose bones, ere his setting, the birds of the air, and beasts of the forest, will leave as white and fleshless as your own. The officer, who belonged to the army investing Carthagena, now treated us with great civility; he heard our story, and desired his men to assist us in burying the remains of our late commander. Α We remained all day on the same part of the coast, but towards evening the party fell back on the outpost to which they belonged. After traveling an hour or so we emerged from a dry river course, in which the night had overtaken us, and came suddenly on a small plateau, where the post was established on the promontory of "Punto Canoa.” There may be braver soldiers at a charge, but none more picturesque in a bivouac than the Spanish. gigantic wild cotton-tree, to which our largest English oaks were but as dwarfs, rose on one side, and overshadowed the whole level space. The bright beams of the full moon glanced among the topmost leaves, and tipped the higher branches with silver, contrasting strangely with the scene below, where a large watch-fire cast a strong red glare on the surrounding objects, throwing up dense volumes of smoke, which eddied in dun wreaths amongst the foliage, and hung in the still night air like a canopy, leaving the space beneath comparatively clear. A temporary guard-house, with a rude verandah of bamboos and palm leaves, had been built between two of the immense spurs of the mighty tree, that shot out many yards from the parent stem like wooden buttresses, whilst overhead there was a sort of stage made of planks laid across the lower boughs, supporting a quantity of provisions covered with tarpaulins. The sentries in the back ground with their glancing arms, were seen pacing on their watch; some of the guard were asleep on wooden benches, and on the platform amongst the branches, where a little baboon-looking old man, in the dress of a drummer, had perched himself, and sat playing a Biscayan air on a sort of bagpipe; others were gathered round the fire cooking their food, or cleaning their arms. It shone brightly on the long line |