contributed not a little to the increasing despondency of their
spirits; but, notwithstanding several attempts previously made, they
had rejected what was offered them, with insurmountable loathing. When
they had now swallowed a few morsels of the sliced venison ham,
prepared with all the delicacy the nearly exhausted resources of the
vessel could supply, accompanied by a small portion of the cornbread of
the Canadian, Captain de Haldimar prevailed on them to swallow a few
drops of the spirit that still remained in the canteen given them by
Erskine on their departure from Detroit. The genial liquid sent a
kindling glow to their chilled hearts, and for a moment deadened the
pungency of their anguish; and then it was that Miss de Haldimar
entered briefly on the horrors she had witnessed, while Clara, with her
arm encircling her waist, fixed her dim and swollen eyes, from which a
tear ever and anon rolled heavily to her lap, on those of her beloved
cousin.

CHAPTER II.

Without borrowing the affecting language of the unhappy girl--a
language rendered even more touching by the peculiar pathos of her
tones, and the searching agony of spirit that burst at intervals
through her narrative--we will merely present our readers with a brief
summary of what was gleaned from her melancholy disclosure. On bearing
her cousin to the bedroom, after the terrifying yell first heard from
without the fort, she had flown down the front stairs of the
blockhouse, in the hope of reaching the guardroom in time to acquaint
Captain Baynton with what she and Clara had witnessed from their
window. Scarcely, however, had she gained the exterior of the building,
when she saw that officer descending from a point of the rampart
immediately on her left, and almost in a line with the block-house. He
was running to overtake and return the ball of the Indian players,
which had, at that moment, fallen into the centre of the fort, and was
now rolling rapidly away from the spot on which Miss de Haldimar stood.
The course of the ball led the pursuing officer out of the reach of her
voice; and it was not until he had overtaken and thrown it again over
the rampart, she could succeed in claiming his attention. No sooner,
however, had he heard her hurried statement, than, without waiting to
take the orders of his commanding officer, he prepared to join his
guard, and give directions for the immediate closing of the gates. But
the opportunity was now lost.