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Show 306 TilE LILY AND THE TOTEM. lracana condescended to take from the bauds of A phon. Her tears fell upon his offo.Jring. She ga\'C him in return two small nu1ts1 woven of the finer straws of the country, with her own hands-wrought, indeed, while D'Erlach sat beside her in the shade of a great oak by the river bank-and t• so artificially wrought," in the language of the chronicle, "as it was impossible to make it better." 'l'hc poor Queen had few words- " You will como to me, Aplwn-you will ? you will ? I too much want you ! Come soon, A phon. lracana will dance never no more till Aphot' be come." "A piton" felt, at that moment, that be could come witbout sorrow. He promised that he would. Jlcrhaps he meant to keep llis promise ; but we shall sec. Tho word was given to be nboa.rd, nod the trumpet rang, recalling the soldier who still lingered in the forest slHLdows, with some dusky damsel fur comptmion. All were at length assembled, and with a last. squeeze of her hnncl, D'Erlach took leave of his sorrowful quccll. Sho turned away ill to the woocls, but soon came forth again, unable to deny herself another last look. But the Frcnclunen were delayed. One of their men was missing. Where wail Louis Bourdon ? There was no answer to his name. The boat-s were searched, the banks of tho river, tho neighboring woods, tl1o fields, the Indian village, and all in vain. The Frenchmen observed U1a.t the natives exhibited no eagerness in the search. They saw that many faces were clothed with smiles, when their efforts resulted fruitlessly. They could no\ suppose that any harm had befallen the absent soldier. They could not doubt the innocence of that hospitality, which had shown itself so fond. 'fhcy conjectured rightly when they supposed that Louis Bourdon, a mere youth of twenty, had gone 307 off with one of the damsels of lracana, whose seductions he had found it impossible to withstand. D'Erlach spoke to the Queen upon the subject She gave him no encouragement. She professed to know nothing, nnd probably did not, and she would promise nothing. She unhesitatingly declared her belief that he wns in the forest, with some one thnt" he so much loved:" but sl1e assured D'Erlu.ch that to hunt them up would be an impossibility. "Wl1y you not stay with me, A phon, as your soldier stay with the woman he so much love? It is good to stay. Jracana. will love you too much more than other woman. Ah ! you love not much tho poor Iracana." u Nay, Iracana, I love you greatly. I will come to you again. I find it hard to tear myself n.way. But my people-" "Ah! you stay with lracana, and much love Irncana, and you ha\'e all these people. They will plant for you many fields of corn ; you shall no more want; and we will dance when the evening comes, and we shall be so happy, A phon and lracana, to live together; A phon tho great Parncoussi, and Iracana to be Queen no more." It was not easy to resist these pleadings. But time pressed. Captain J~a. Vasseur was growing impatient. The search after Louis Bourdon was abandoned, and the soldiers were again ordered on board. Tho nnx.icties of La Vasseur being now· awakened, lest otllers of his people should bo spirited away. Of this the dnnger was considerable. The 1<'renchman was a more flexible being than either the Englishman or Spaniard. It was much easier for him to assimilate with the simple Indian; and our Huguenot soldiers, who had very much forgotten their religion in their diseased thirst after gold, now, in the disappointment of the one |
