ing being to be expected from
the interposition of the Governor, he was opposed to the marriage of
Arundel as long as the latter should remain outside of the charmed
circle of the Church--a full communion with which was necessary, even
to the exercise of the rights of a citizen. But the young man was
incapable of deception. His ingenuous mind turned, displeased, away
from the bait the wily Governor had presented; and, dearly as he loved
his mistress, he would have preferred to renounce her rather than play
the hypocrite to obtain the prize. He was not much cast down, for,
having sought the interview, not from the promptings of his own
judgment, but out of deference to the wishes of the knight, he was not
greatly disappointed. He remained firm in the resolution, whatever
might be the risk, to release Eveline from the constraint exercised
over her by her guardian. Silent, with the Indian silent following in
his footsteps, he returned to his lodgings to brood over his prospects
and to devise schemes.

The next day was the time fixed for receiving the Taranteens; and not
without interest, notwithstanding the pre-occupation of his mind, did
Arundel look forward to the event. Such deputations or embassies were,
indeed, not uncommon, and the young man had already been present at
more than one occasion of the kind; but great consequence was attached
to the present, and unusual preparations were made to convert the
ceremony into a scene that should be imposing to the imagination of
the savages, and forcibly impress them with an idea of the power of
the English.

The name Taranteen was given to the natives living on the banks of the
river Kennebec, in the present state of Maine, and embraced a number
of tribes, among whom were those called by the French Abenakis. They
were a fierce and proud race, and had spread the terror of their arms
to a wide distance from their hunting grounds. There was a perpetual
feud betwixt them and the Aberginians, as the Indians on Massachusetts
Bay were styled, who, in consequence of wars with their northern
neighbors, as well as of the pestilence which had desolated their
wigwams, had become reduced from the condition of a powerful people to
comparative insignificance. These Taranteens had, at the beginning of
the settlement of the colony, occasionally done some mischief,
descending these rivers in canoes in small bands, plundering the
cabins of exposed settlers, and sometimes murdering the inmate