A LEGEND OF THE NATCHEZ
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 opportunity soon enabled him to press his dishonorable suit. The attempt was met as chastity should always encounter base- ness, with scorn and contempt.

 Baffied but not defeated, pride and law less passion urged on this infatuated man to the accomplishment of his designs, reckless to guilt, and blind to danger.

 The hour had arrived which was ap- pointed for the marriage of the warrior and his destined bride. In the simple and un- ostentatiouS ceremony which marked this assembled to witness the pledge, and to mingle in the festivities of this joyous oc- casion, when band of soldiers surround ed the peaceful assembly. Opposition was fruitless. The Indians entirely de- fenceless and unsuspicious of danger, were lost in astonishment; and amidst grief and supplication, the bride was borne away.

 Imagination can alone depict the sorrow, consternation and despair which agitated the soul of the unhappy husband. He persuaded, he entreated his ingenious heart urged all that could be conceived, to operate on the humanity or excite the av-

 

 mely and bitter derision were the only an- swer to his impassioned applications. Then he threw himself in all his strength and terrific energies, among the bayonets of his enemies. Many sunk under his power full arm; :; but numbers prevailed, and he was hurled back, discomfltcd and wound ed to the earth.

 Days and weeks passed away but the vigilance of the savage never slumbered over the prospect of revenge. He roamed about the encampment of the French, he employed every stratagem that his willy in- genuity could suggest; but the apprehen- sion of some desperate deed, induced more than ordinary precaution on the part of the French officer. The wary Indian, however, had noted the situation of the camp, marked the quarters of his victim, and matured his plans. He had secretly and cautiously prepared large quantities of combustible materials, consisting of dried cane, leaves, and brushwood; these, satur- ated with the sap of the pitch pine, were carefully transferred by night to the vicin- ity of the encampment, at point the most distant from the quarters of the devoted Frenehman. The place selected was just without the chain of sentinels, and in the midst of a thicket unfrequented by the sol- diers.

 To this magazine, on dark and stormy night, he fired train, which, burning slowly, enabled him to reach the stand of the sentinel nearest his enemy, before the conAagration became perceptible. He threw himself at full length on the ground, he wound among the herbage, gliding with the silence and rapidity of the serpent. The unsuspecting soldier reached the ex- tremity of his post, and turned to retrace his steps the next instant his throat was in grasp from which nothing mortal could him. A silent plunge, and a heavy sigh went down upon the wind. and, save its gusty moan, no other sound could be distinguished.

 The success of the stratagem was com- plete. The terrors of that tempestuous night, rendered visible by the brillancy of the widely spread fire, and inconceivably by those unearthly sounds, struck dismay 10 every bosom. The sen- tinels fled their posts, the camp was thrown into confusion, ,and fearful forebod- ings and unde6ned fear, sat on every coun- tenancc.

 Enveloped in the watch coat of the un- fortunate soldier, the Natchez chief now occupied the opening of the tent, where reposed the hated author of all his wrongs. Reused by the uproar which surrounded him, the Frenchman hastened to ascertain it's cause; but the next instant explained the mystery for he felt himselfin the iron fold of him whom he had injured beyond the hope of mercy. A moSIent was suffi- cient to bind the vic:im, to fasten sheath ed knife fir:,,iy in his jaws, to enter the tent, and lead forth that once pure, but now violated. dishonored and forsaken girl. She had anticipated, and inpatient Iy awaited the moment, which would ter- minate her sorrows. Not word was ut- tered. not sound escaped but in the confusion which prevailed, and amidst the gloom of the night, and the raging of the storm, bearing his foe in his arms, and fol- lowed by his wife, the triumphant savage sought the depths of the wilderness. He speedily passed beyond the limits of Euro pean adventure, and the sun rose upon this devoted party, where pursuit was impossi- ble. or would have been hopeless.

 He turned to her whom he yet tenderly loved, whose soul was yet unspotted. but whose cruel destiny had involved them both in irredeemable dishonor. The exchange of a few basty words, and first and final or,brace. were the preliminaries to this