this
very circumstance a proof of my innocence. Had I been sent out as a spy
to reconnoitre the movements, and to overhear the councils of our
enemies, the gate would have been open for my egress; but that rope is
in itself an evidence I must have stolen forth unknown to the garrison."

Whether it was that the warrior had his own particular reasons for
attaching truth to this statement, or that he merely pretended to do
so, Captain de Haldimar saw with secret satisfaction his last argument
was conclusive.

"Well, be it so," retorted the savage, while a ferocious smile passed
over his swarthy features; "but, whether you have been here as a spy,
or have merely ventured out in prosecution of an intrigue, it matters
not. Before the sun has travelled far in the meridian you die; and the
tomahawk of your father's deadly foe--of--of--of Wacousta, as I am
called, shall be the first to drink your blood."

The officer made a final effort at mercy. "Who or what you are, or
whence your hatred of my family, I know not," he said; "but surely I
have never injured you: wherefore, then, this insatiable thirst for my
blood? If you are, indeed, a Christian and a soldier, let your heart be
touched with humanity, and procure my restoration to my friends. You
once attempted my life in honourable combat, why not wait, then, until
a fitting opportunity shall give not a bound and defenceless victim to
your steel, but one whose resistance may render him a conquest worthy
of your arm?"

"What! and be balked of the chance of my just revenge? Hear me, Captain
de Haldimar," he pursued, in that low, quick, deep tone that told all
the strong excitement of his heart:--"I have, it is true, no particular
enmity to yourself, further than that you are a De Haldimar; but hell
does not supply a feeling half so bitter as my enmity to your proud
father; and months, nay years, have I passed in the hope of such an
hour as this. For this have I forsworn my race, and become--what you
now behold me--a savage both in garb and character. But this matters
not," he continued, fiercely and impatiently, "your doom is sealed; and
before another sun has risen, your stern father's gaze shall be blasted
with the sight of the mangled carcase of his first born. Ha! ha! ha!"
and he laughed low and exultingly; "even now I think I see him
withering, if heart so hard can wither, beneath this proof of my
undying hate."

"Fiend!--monster!--devil!" exclaimed the excited officer