and by the immediate fear of those consequences which a discovery of his person and designs must occasion, felt the necessity of exertion; and vainly struggling to conceal his emotion, he turned to Ohmeina, and said, in a voice half fearful and half insolent, "I command you to loose your hold of me this instant; I am subject neither to your will nor to that of your employer; and if you do not quit me directly, I will try the strength of my club upon your shoulders." The Indian made no reply, nor even changed a muscle of his countenance; but dexterously seizing Forrester's club, he placed one end of it beneath his foot, and bending the other upward with his hand, snapped the stout cudgel in two, as easily as if it had been only a withered twig, and threw the pieces as far as he could into the forest. Forrester's eyes flashed with inconceivable fury, and Catherine, who still remained a silent observer of the scene, recoiled at the demoniac expression of his countenance. Corporeal fear, even the natu ral love of life and safety, seemed lost in the inexpressible rage of the moment; and with the gesture of an angry tiger, which the hunters have brought to bay, he sprung furiously upon the Indian. But the wary Ohmeina, by a sudden motion, evaded his meditated blow, while Forrester, full of resentment and mortification, stood for a moment silent and abashed, ashamed of his impotent rage, and rebuked by the calm and unmoved countenance of the dignified Indian. "Thou canst not escape from my grasp," said Ohmeina, regarding with disdain the renewed struggles of his captive for freedom. "Thou must follow where thou art led, and if thou art innocent, thou hast nothing to fear." "And by what authority, I again demand," exclaimed Forrester," do you presume to lay violent hands upon my person?" "If thou art innocent," again repeated Ohmeina, "thou wilt not fear to go whither I shall lead thee. But thy thoughts are wicked; thou hast spoken evil of my brother, and thou wearest deadly weapons, with which thou dost intend to pierce his heart." 66 They shall pierce thine, vilest of thy vile race?" exclaimed Forrester, again transported by passion beyond the bounds of fear and prudence; and he drew forth a dirk which he had worn concealed in his bosom, and made a violent thrust at the Indian. Ohmeina parried it with dexterity; and taking advantage of his adversary's discomfiture, he ingeniously contrived to seize the handle of the weapon, which, after a short struggle, he succeeded in wresting from him. Forrester seemed resolved to recover it; and though the Indian turned the glittering point towards him, bidding him beware how he adventured upon destruction, he sprang resolutely forward to grasp the handle of the dirk, when his foot slipped, and he fell prostrate on the ground. In seeking to save himself he caught hold of Ohmeina, and accidentally struck the weapon from his hand, which rather accelerated his fall and proved the means of unforeseen misfortune; for the dirk remained upright against the stump of an elder. bush, and as the unhappy man fell, the sharp point entered his side, and the blade snapping in the middle, was left in the wound. The blood gushed forth; and Catherine, shocked by the fatal termination of the scene, which she had witnessed with extreme interest, forgot every feeling of abhorrence and aversion, in the wish to administer relief to the sufferer. She was a stranger to those weak and fastidious fears which would have driven most females from the spot, or have thrown them into swoons of hysterical terror; and though gifted with sensibility as exquisite as the softest and most timid of her sex, it was not of that morbid kind which exhausts itself in tears and expressions of sympathy, and deems it sufficient to pity the sufferer without the pain of stretching forth an assisting hand to relieve him. Hers was ever active, ever solicitous to relieve the wants and soften the distresses of others; and the moment she saw Mr. Forrester fall, her first impulse was to fly towards him, and lend what aid was in her power., Ohmeina, was bending over him, and had already cut away his dress so as to disclose a ghastly wound in his right side, from which the end of the broken weapon protruded, having entered the body of the unfortunate man to the depth of several inches. A faint ejaculation of horror escaped the lips of Catherine, as she viewed it, when Ohmeina, who had not before observed her presence, started and looked upon her with a momentary awe and surprise. Nothwithstanding his civilization, he still retained a large portion of the superstition peculiar to the Indian tribes; and though the deep and reverential awe with which he turned to gaze upon the lovely figure of Catherine, faded away when he perceived the vision to be mortal, a glow of pleased surprise, of admiration and respect, lighted up his dark countenance, when he beheld her beautiful face full of kindnsss and compassion, bending with interest over the bleeding and unfortunate man. "It is all over," said Forrester, in a voice of anguish, as he caught her pitying glance; "leave me, leave me to die as the fool dieth, and end a life of crime by a death of misery and despair." "No, something may be done," said Catherine, earnestly. "Nothing can be done," said Forrester; "I feel, I know it; and what a life have I lived to be cut off at last without the warning of a moment!" "God is merciful," said Catherine, deeply affected by his sufferings ;" and is never deaf to the prayer of the truly penitent." "He is just, as well as merciful, and my prayers would be an abomination to him," exclaimed the wretched man. "Not if they are offered in sincerity," returned Catherine; "his ear is open to all who cry unto him, and even at the last hour the prayer of the penitent thief was not rejected, because it was offered in the humility of a contrite spirit." The unhappy man groaned aloud, and threw his arm across his pale features, distorted with pain, and with the horrible workings of a guilty conscience, whose goadings in this hour of extremity were sharper than the sting of serpents, and more agonizing than the keenest pangs of bodily suffering. "Can we do nothing for him, Ohmeina?" asked Catherine, in an anxious voice. The Indian drew from his deerskin pouch, a small bark box, which contained a powder of very aromatic flavor, and said, as he held it towards her, "If thou hast courage to see me draw forth the steel, this powder may give him relief. It sometimes heals the deadliest wounds, and iny mother, the wisest among the women of her tribe, taught me to prepare it from the healing plants of the forest." "I have courage to see any thing which may give the sufferer ease," said Catherine; "do not hesitate, Ohmeina; and if needful, I am ready to assist you." Ohmeina bent down to perform the painful operation, while Catherine, holding the box which contained the specific, knelt beside him, waiting to lend her aid in case it should be requisite. A torrent of blood followed the course of the steel when the Indian drew it forth; and as the vital current gushed like a flood upon the ground, even Catherine's firm heart became sick, and the crimson of her cheek faded to a deadly paleness; but she felt the necessity of exertion, and with recovered fortitude, she applied her handkerchief to the wound in order to stop the effusion of blood, which had already reduced the sufferer to a state of insensibility. application of the powder appeared to staunch it in a degree; but the Indian saw that other remedies must be used before the wounded man could be removed with safety; and he said to Catherine, The "Thou art braver than the boldest squaws of our tribes; there is none, save Minoya, who can equal thee; and if thou wilt consent to remain beside this bleeding man, I will go for such things for such things as are necessary, and return with some one who can help to bear him to a place of shelter. But if thou fearest". "No, I do not fear, if you will hasten," said Catherine; "but should be grow worse, you know I can do nothing to relieve him, nor is there any whom I can call to my assistance." "He will be no worse," said Ohmeina; "so sit by him as thou now dost; and before the shadow of that rock shall stretch across the path, I will return to thee.” The sound of voices approaching, prevented the reply of Catherine, and delayed the instant departure of Ohmeina. They both bent forward to listen, and the quick ear of the Indian immediately recognizing the familiar tones of Colonel Grahame's voice, he exclaimed, "My brother comes !" and bounded from the spot to meet him, just as he, with Captain Talbot, appeared in sight. CHAPTER XIII. "Which is the villain? Let me see his eyes; Shakspeare. CATHERINE rose precipitately from the side of the wounded man, as Grahame and Talbot approached, while the color which the melancholy scene had chased from her countenance, rushed tumultuously back, dying both cheek and brow with the deepest and most vivid crimson. Profound astonishment was depicted on the faces of the gentlemen, as they approached the spot, and beheld the pale and ghastly figure of the lifeless man extended on the ground, and remarked the disordered dress and appearance of Catherine, who stood in silence beside him, blushes mantling on her cheeks, and the most powerful emotion visible on her countenance. It seemed, in this moment of mystery and excitement, as if the love which Captain Talbot had cherished for |