d
refresh them. Virginia sighed at the recollection of the poor slave,
and at the uneasiness they had given their mothers. She repeated several
times--"Oh, how difficult it is to do good!" While she and Paul were
taking refreshment, it being already night, Domingo kindled a fire: and
having found among the rocks a particular kind of twisted wood, called
bois de ronde, which burns when quite green, and throws out a great
blaze, he made a torch of it, which he lighted. But when they prepared
to continue their journey, a new difficulty occurred; Paul and Virginia
could no longer walk, their feet being violently swollen and inflamed.
Domingo knew not what to do; whether to leave them and go in search of
help, or remain and pass the night with them on that spot. "There was
a time," said he, "when I could carry you both together in my arms!
But now you are grown big, and I am grown old." When he was in this
perplexity, a troop of Maroon negroes appeared at a short distance from
them. The chief of the band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said to
them,--"Good little white people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this
morning, with a negro woman of the Black River. You went to ask pardon
for her of her wicked master; and we, in return for this, will carry you
home upon our shoulders." He then made a sign, and four of the strongest
negroes immediately formed a sort of litter with the branches of trees
and lianas, and having seated Paul and Virginia on it, carried them upon
their shoulders. Domingo marched in front with his lighted torch, and
they proceeded amidst the rejoicings of the whole troop, who overwhelmed
them with their benedictions. Virginia, affected by this scene, said
to Paul, with emotion,--"Oh, my dear brother! God never leaves a good
action unrewarded."

It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of their mountain, on the
ridges of which several fires were lighted. As soon as they began to
ascend, they heard voices exclaiming--"Is it you, my children?" They
answered immediately, and the negroes also,--"Yes, yes, it is." A moment
after they could distinguish their mothers and Mary coming towards them
with lighted sticks in their hands. "Unhappy children," cried Madame
de la Tour, "where have you been? What agonies you have made us
suffer!"--"We have been," said Virginia, "to the Black River, where we
went to ask pardon for a poor Maroon slave, to whom I gave our breakfast
this morning, because she seemed dying