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Show 240 THE LILY .AND THE TOTE:O.f. We will bid the cl!icf, Onathnqua, send llCr after thee, so that thou may'st wed her according to the rites of tho church." "Alas!" replied Uurbu, "thou compcllcst me, Seller Laudonnicrc, to UDI'avcl sin after sin before thee. 1 have greatly erred and wandered from the paths of virtue, and from the laws of Holy Church, in my grievous sojourn among the savages. That woman filled no longer tho place which she had at first in my affections. With increase of power and sccUl'ity, I grew wanton. I grew weary of her, and sold her to one of the chiefs for a damsel of his own house, which mine eyes covcWd." The Spnniard hung ), is head as he made this confession, while Laudonnicrc with severo ttSpcct rated him for his lecheries. When the capt:!. in bad ceased his rebuke, Le Darbu continued his story thus: "We gained many battles in this mn with the mountain Indians, who arc neither so fierce, nor so subtle as tl10se who dwell alon" the regions of the sea. ,~orily, the people of the lord of Calo: arc great dis3cmblors, tr·cacherous beyond the serpent, ,·aliant of tl1eir persons, and figl1t with excellent address. Great was the favor which I found with them because of my conduct in the wa.r; and, in each succeeding war, for a space of six years, I became, in liko manner, distinguished, until 1 became a most favorite chief with the lord of Cales, and a bosom friend and companion of hill son-he wl10m 1 had rescued f1·om the stag, and who had now grown up to manhood. Greatly did this lad favor his father. He was of a light olive complexion, scarcely more dark than the people of Spanish raco, but superior in stature, well-limbed, and of admirable dexterity. With him I hunted. from the fall of the lea.f in autumn, to the budding of the leaf again in spring; and, ''hen the summer time came, we sped away in our canoes, up the • 241 vast rh·ers of the country, through great lakes, many of which liJ !'mb;tdey in forests of m:UlgrO\'c ·and palm, where the forest swims upon tl1e water. lf it were possible for a Christian manfor one who has heard the sound of a great bell in tho cities of the oltl worlJ, and who h:1s communed with the \'arious good and wond rous things of civiliJ:ation-to bn contont with a loss of these, and llu~ir utter exelu~ivu ft·om ~;ig:ht for C\'et, then migl1t I have p:1sscd pleasantly the years of my eapti\'ity among the people of Calos. I had become a chief and was greatly honored. I had pO\vcr and I was much feared. 1 had wea.lth~uch wealth a.s . the sa\':tge estimates-and I wa.s lo\·cd ;and the lord of Calos and Lis noble son, put in me a faith which never betrayed a doubt or a deniaL But 1 had not power to shield my brother Christians, save in one ease. Each year witnessed the sacrifice of a comrade. They were the victims to the bwa.s. The priesthood was a power under which the kinga themselves Wflre made to tremble. With them was it to determine upon peace or war, life or dea.th, bonds or freedom ; and the strength of the king lay greatly in his alliance with the priesthood. Dut for this, the rule among the savage nations would be wholly with the people. Season after season, when came tho harvest, one of our lueklo;;s Spani:trds was taken away from the r<'st and doomed to the sncrifice. In this way the savages propitiate the unknown God, to whom they looked for victory over their enemies. Do not suppose that I beheld this cruelty without toiling against it. Dut [ spoke in \'ain. I made angry the lawns, until the lord of Cales himself addressed me, after this fashion-' Son of tho stranger, art thou not well thys~lf? Wfly wouldst thou be sick, being 1\·ell ? Art thou not thyself safe? Why, being so, put thy bead under the maeana? It is not wise iu thee to su the things 11 |