o think that he may die. And yet I have exceeding
joy in our child."

"Does it not grieve thee to think that thou, and he, and I, may not
meet together in the land of souls?"

"May not meet together in the land of souls? Why? Thou hast sent an
arrow to my heart, my husband. Why are the gates of death to separate
those who loved each other in life?"

"Our gods are not the same, and the abodes of the souls of the white
man and the red man are far apart."

"Why wilt thou not come to the land which holds the spirits of the
departed of _my_ race? Thou art a lover of the chace, and often
preferrest the pastime of hunting the deer, and the bear, and the
panther, through the wild forest, to reposing in the arms of thy
Garanga. In the land--_my_ land of souls--thou wilt enjoy thy
favourite pursuit. There thou canst course the stag through flowery
meads, and over grassy hills, and know nothing of the bitter obstacles
which impede the path of an earth-borne hunter. There will be a
pleasant cabin built for us beside the placid river of that land--and
upon the green banks, beneath the wide-spreading shade of the
evergreen larch and cypress, shall our rest be appointed. Come to _my_
heaven, my beloved husband!"

"Garanga! my beautiful Garanga! mother of my son! it may not be!"
replied the husband. "The Christian's heaven is unlike the heaven of
the infidel, nor does he picture to himself such delights as thou and
thy nation fancy are to be the portion of the brave warrior and
skilful hunter--of all who do their duty faithfully, and according to
the best of their power."

"Then I will go with thee to thy heaven, for I will not be separated
from thee!" replied the fond wife. "Teach me how I shall worship _thy_
Master, for alas, I know not his ways."

So the beautiful Garanga forsook the religion of her own nation; and
hung round her neck the silver cross and rosary, which marked the
belief of her beloved husband. In vain did her father and his people
solicit her to quit her husband, and return to them, and to the belief
in which she had been bred. Her favourite brother, Mecumeh, came, and
besought her, by all the motives of national pride and family vanity,
to return to her people in this world, that she might not be severed
from them in the land of souls. But the young Garanga, whom her
husband called Marguerite, after a woman of his own nation, was bound
by a threefold cord--her love to her husband, to her son, and to her
r