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Show 196 charm. Gentle valleys spread away before them in tho embrace of guardian ranges of hill, and clear streams gushed out through banks that seemed to gladden in perpetual green. Enormous trees spread over them a grateful cover from the sun, and lusciou.!: l berries of the wood, and unknown fruits, green and purple, were to be found lying in their path, which was everywhere traversed by the trailing vines which produced them. Birds of unknown phunagc, and of wild and startling song, darted out from the brake to cheer them as they paascd;and as they reached the steeps of sudden hills, they could catch glimpses of herds of sleek deer, that sped away with arrowy fleetness from the green valleys where they browsed, to the cover of umbrageous thickets where they lodged iu safety. The mind of the soldier, however, particularly the adventurer whom one passionate thirst alono impel':!, is scarcely ever sensible to the charms and attractions of the visible nature. Where they appeal simply to his sense of the beautiful, they aro but wasted treasures, like gems that pave the great bed of ocean, and bavo no value to the finny tribes that glide below--each seeking the selfish object which marks his nature. The passion for the beautiful, with but few exceptions, is a passion that belongs to training and education ; and even these seldom suffice, in tho presence of more morbid desires, to wean the attention to the things of taste, unless these arc recognized as aeceBSOries of the object of a more intense nppetit-o. Even Alphonse D'}:rlneh, the iJeve of a superior class-one who had been benefitted by society and tho schools, appreciated but imperfectly the lovel iness of the landscape, and the fresh luxuriance of a vegetable life il! a region that seemed so immediately from the hands of its Creator. His thoughts were of another nature. His n.oxieties were elsewhere. His eye 'filE ADVENTURE OF D1ERLACIT. 197 was fixed upon his Indian guide, of whom his doubts bad now become suspicions. Nightly had Oolenoc disappeared from the encampment. It wn.'! iu ''ain that our lieutenant set spies upon his movements. He would disappear without gi,·ing the alarm, and re-appear, when least expected, before the dawning. D'Erlach's vigilance was increased. He did not suffer his men to straggle; marching with care by day, his watches were equally di,·idcd by night, nod his own eyes were kept open by intense anxiety, through hours when most were sleeping. Occasionally, glimpses of Indians wore caught on distant bills, or on the edge of suddenly glancing waters. But any attempt to appron.ch sent them into their canoes, or over the hillside-increasing the suspicions of D'Erlaeh, n.nd awakening tho apprehensions of his men. A something of insolence in the tone and manner of Oolenoe led our young lieutenant to suppose that the moment of trial was at band ; und he already began to meditate tho seizure of his guide, as a security for the conduct of tho Indians, when an incident occurred which the foresight of our lieutenant, great as it was, bad never led him to anticipate. It was at the close of o. lovely evening in September, when the little dct.n.ohmcnt of Frenchmen \verc rounding n ravine. Oolenoo was advanced with D'Erlacb some few paces before tho rest. Both of them were silent; but they pressed forward stoutly, through a simple forest trail, over which the Frenchmen followed in Indian fi\o. Suddenly, their march was arrested by a cry from the foot of tbe ravine, in tho rear of tho party, and along the path which they had recently traversed. Tho cry was human. It was that of a voice very familiar t-o the cars of tho party. It was evidently meant to compel attention and arrest their progress. At the iostnnt, D'Erlaoh wheeled about and made for the rear. |