ame
sensations have more than once come over him since that hour while
they were suffering together the hardships of the week, and the
fearful scenes that followed the gale they had encountered after the
chase.

Aphiz and Komel loved each other now, as they never could have done,
but for the strange vicissitudes which they had shared together.
They had grown to be necessary to each other's being, and even when
absent from each other for a few hours, in soul they were still
together. And hand in hand, side by side, they still wandered about
the wild mountain scenery of their native hills. They had no
thoughts but of love, no desires that were not in unison, no
throbbing of their breasts that did not echo a kindred token in each
other's hearts. Life, kindred, the whole world were seen by them
through the soft ideal hues of ever present affection.

And when, at last, with full consent from her parents, Aphiz led
Komel a blushing bride to the altar, and Selim and Zillah supported
them on either side, how happy were they all!

Years pass on in the hills of Circassia as in all the rest of the
world beside. Sunshine and shadow glance athwart its crowning peaks,
the waves of the Black Sea lave its shores, its daughters still
dream of a home among the Turks, and the secret cargoes are yet run
from Anapa up the Golden Horn. The slave bazaar of the Ottoman
capital still presents its bevy of fair creatures from the north,
and the Sultan's agents are ever on the alert for the most beautiful
to fill the monarch's harem. The Brother of the Sun chooses his
favorites from out a score of lovely Georgians and Circassians, but
he does not forget her who had so entranced his heart, so enslaved
his affections, and then so mysteriously escaped from his gilded
cage.

But as time passes on the scene changes--rosy-cheeked children cling
about Aphiz's knees, and a dear, black-eyed representative of her
mother clasps her tiny arms about his neck. And so, too, are Selim
and Zillah blessed, and their children play and laugh together,
causing an ever constant flow of delight to the parents' hearts.

There ever watches over them one sober, quiet eye--one whom the
children love dearly, for he joins them in all their games and
sports, and astonishes and delights them by his wonderful feats of
agility. It is the half-witted creature, who had followed and loved
Komel so well. As years have passed over him, the sun-light of
reason gradually crept i