nate, and at their close her head sunk upon his
shoulder, while her tears gushed forth without restraint, and in
defiance of all her efforts. The heart of the woodman was deeply and
painfully affected, and the words refused to leave his lips, while a
kindred anguish shook his manly frame, and rendered it almost a
difficulty with him to sustain the slight fabric of hers. With a stern
effort, however, he recovered himself, and reseating her upon the bank
from which, in the agitation of the moment, they had both arisen, he
endeavored to soothe her spirit, by unfolding his plan of future life.

"My present aim is the nation--I shall cross the Chestatee river
to-morrow, and shall push at once for the forest of Etowee, and beyond
the Etowee river. I know the place well, and have been through it
before. There I shall linger until I hear all the particulars of this
affair in its progress, and determine upon my route accordingly. If the
stir is great, as I reckon it will be, I shall push into Tennessee, and
perhaps go for the Mississippi. Could I hope that your father would
consent to remove, I should at once do this and make a settlement,
where, secure from interruption and all together, we might live happily
and honorably for the future."

"And why not do so now--why stop at all among the Cherokees? Why not go
at once into Mississippi, and begin the world, as you propose in the end
to do?"

"What! and leave you for ever--now Kate, you are indeed cruel. I had not
thought to have listened to such a recommendation from one who loved me
as you profess."

"As I do, Mark--I say nothing which I do not feel. It does not follow
that you will be any nigher your object, if my father continue firm in
his refusal, though nigher to me, by lingering about in the nation. On
the contrary, will he not, hearing of you in the neighborhood, be more
close in his restraints upon me? Will not your chance of exposure, too,
be so much the greater, as to make it incumbent upon him to pursue his
determination with rigor? while, on the other hand, if you remove
yourself out of all reach of Georgia, in the Mississippi, and there
begin a settlement, I am sure that he will look upon the affair with
different notions."

"It can not be, Kate--it can not be. You know I have had but a single
motive for living so long among this people and in these parts. I
disliked both, and only lingered with a single hope, that I might be
blessed with your presence alway