he
fast fading daylight clung dimly to the interior, my eyes were fastened
upon his upturned face, almost boyish in the unconsciousness of repose,
and I began to feel pity for his weakness, my anger against him fading
away. As the darkness became pronounced I remained there still, my
sleepless eyes paying small heed to night, the scenes I saw being of
the brain, memory awakening to paint with glowing colors across the
black screen. The evening was quiet,--within, no more was heard than
the regular breathing of my companion; without, an occasional savage
outcry, mingled with the low moaning of the night wind.

It became a lonely vigil, my thoughts unhappy. I had much to reflect
upon. The extreme difficulty of our present situation, encompassed and
separated as we were: De Noyan was bewitched by a siren who had already
bound him by silken cords to any nefarious scheme her unscrupulous
desires might compass; Cairnes was as helplessly entangled in her
power, although held to his fate by ropes of a different nature; while
Madame was scarcely less a prisoner, powerless to escape the ruthless
grasp of a false-hearted woman whose jealousy might at any instant lead
to measures of extremity. I alone of all our little company remained
somewhat my own master. My hands and heart at least were free from all
visible bonds. Yet what hideous mockery was such freedom! I realized
that I could venture no step beyond the door of the lodge without
becoming the focus of spying eyes; that all about was evidence of the
despotic power of this renegade white queen, who deigned to spare me
merely because she deemed I was utterly powerless to interfere with her
cruel purposes. Saint Andrew! it was an environment of evil to chill
the blood of any man, nor amid its gathering gloom could I distinguish
any gleam promising dawn. About us watched impatiently a horde of
ruthless savages, eager to make us victims of their torture, held back
temporarily only by the imperious will of this self-styled "Daughter of
the Sun," who ruled through appeal to their grossest superstitions.
She, I believed, in spite of fair face and evidences of culture, was as
vindictive, barbarous, and relentless as the wildest in that savage
band.

Over and over I turned such unhappy thoughts in my seething brain,
until the faintest sound from without had died away. I may have spent
hours thus, while De Noyan slept on peacefully as a tired child. At
last a wild desire