oak branch and cut the sinews of a catamount, at the distance of sixty feet.

The unfrequency with which I had lately encountered this foe, and the incumbrance of provision, made me neglect on this occasion to bring with me my usual arms. The beast that was now before me, when stimulated by hunger, was accustomed to assail whatever could provide him with a banquet of blood. He would set upon the man and the deer with equal and irresistible ferocity. His sagacity was equal to his strength, and he seemed able to discover when his antagonist was armed and prepared for defense.

My past experience enabled me to estimate the full extent of my danger. He sat on the brow of the steep, eying the bridge, and apparently deliberating whether he should cross it. It was probable that he had scented my footsteps thus far, and should he pass over, his vigilance could scarcely fail of detecting my asylum. The pit into which Clithero had sunk from my view was at some distance. To reach it was the first impulse of my fear, but this could not be done without exciting the observation and pursuit of this enemy. I deeply regretted the untoward chance that had led me, when I first came over, to a different shelter.

Should he retain his present station, my danger was scarcely lessened. To pass over in the face of a famished tiger was only to rush upon my fate. The falling of the trunk, which had lately been so anxiously deprecated, was now with no less solicitude desired. Every new gust, I hoped, would tear asunder its remaining bands, and by cutting off all communication between the opposite steeps, place me in security.

My hopes, however, were destined to be frustrated. The fibers of the prostrate tree were obstinately tenacious of their hold, and presently the animal scrambled down the rock and proceeded to cross it.

Of all kinds of death, that which now menaced me was the most abhorred. To die by disease or by the hand of a fellowcreature was propitious and lenient in comparison with being rent to pieces by the fangs of this savage. To perish in this obscure retreat, by means so impervious to the anxious curiosity of my friends, to lose my portion of existence by so untoward and ignoble a destiny, was insupportable. I bitterly deplored my rashness in coming hither unprovided for an encounter like this.

The evil of my present circumstances consisted chiefly in suspense. My death was unavoidable, but my imagination had leisure to torment itself by anticipations. One foot of the savage was slowly and cautiously moved after the other. He struck his claws so deeply into the bark that they were with difficulty withdrawn. At length he leaped upon the ground. We were now separated by an interval of scarcely eight feet. To leave the spot where I crouched was impossible. Behind and beside me the cliff rose perpendicularly, and before me was this grim and terrific visage. I shrank still closer to the ground and closed my eyes.

From this pause of horror I was aroused by the noise occasioned by a second spring of the animal. He leaped into the pit, in which I had so deeply regretted that I had not taken refuge, and disappeared. My rescue was so sudden, and so much beyond my belief or my hope, that I doubted for a moment whether my senses did not deceive me. This opportunity of escape was not to be neglected. I left my place, and scrambled over the trunk with a precipitation which had like to have proved fatal. The tree groaned and shook under me, the wind blew with unexampled violence, and I had scarcely reached the opposite steep when the roots were severed from the rock and the whole fell thundering to the bottom of the chasm.

My trepidations were not speedily quieted. I looked back with wonder on my hairbreadth escape, and on that singular concurrence of events which had placed me, in so short a period, in absolute security. Had the trunk fallen a moment earlier, I should have been imprisoned on the hill or thrown headlong. Had its fall been delayed another moment, I should have been pursued; for the beast now issued from his den, and testified his surprise and disappointment by tokens the sight of which made my blood run cold.

He saw me, and hastened to the verge of the chasm. He squatted on his hind legs and assumed the attitude of one preparing to leap. My consternation was excited afresh by these appearances. It seemed at first as if the rift was too wide for any pair of muscles to carry him in safety over; but I knew the unparalleled agility of this animal, and that his experience had made him a better judge of the practicability of this exploit than I was. Still there was hope that he would relinquish this design as desperate. This hope was quickly at an

end. He sprang, and his forelegs touched the verge of the rock on which I stood. In spite of vehement exertions, however, the surface was too smooth and too hard to allow him to make good his hold. He fell, and a piercing cry, uttered below, showed that nothing had obstructed his descent to the bottom.

Thus was I again rescued from death. Nothing but the pressure of famine could have prompted this savage to so audacious and hazardous an effort; but by yielding to this impulse, he had made my future visits to this spot exempt from peril. Clithero was likewise relieved from a danger that was imminent and unforeseen. Prowling over these grounds, the panther could scarcely have failed to meet with this solitary fugitive.

Had the animal lived, my first duty would have been to have sought him out and assailed him with my tomahawk; but no undertaking would have been more hazardous. Lurking in the grass, or in the branches of a tree, his eye might have descried my approach, he might leap upon me unperceived, and my weapon would be useless.

With a heart beating with unwonted rapidity, I once more descended the cliff, entered the cavern, and arrived at Huntly farm, drenched with rain and exhausted by fatigue.

THE HUNTSMEN.

BY CHÂTEAUBRIAND.

(From "Atala": translated by Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint Pierre.)

[FRANÇOIS RENÉ AUGUSTE, VICOMTE DE CHÂTEAUBRIAND, French writer and diplomatist, was born of a noble Breton family at St. Malo, September 14, 1768. He entered the army at eighteen; traveled in America among the Indians (17911792); was wounded while serving with the royalist forces at Thionville; and subsequently emigrated to England, where he supported himself by teaching and general literary work. "Atala" (1801), a romance of the North American Indians, created a sensation, and "The Genius of Christianity" (1802) was enthusiastically received. In 1803 he was appointed by Napoleon secretary of legation at Rome and later minister to the Swiss republic of Valais, a post which he resigned on the murder of the Duc d'Enghien (1804). Under the Bourbon dynasty he was created a peer of France, and held several important diplomatic posts. He died at Paris, July 4, 1848. Besides the works already mentioned Châteaubriand wrote: "René," "The Martyrs," "The Natchez," "Journey from Paris to Jerusalem,” memoirs, etc.]

NOTHING but a miracle could save Atala from the fascinating solicitations of love, and the persuasive voice of nature:

and that miracle was wrought. The daughter of Simaghan invoked the God of Christians; her matchless form, prostrate on the ground, in the humble posture of supplication, she offered a pious prayer to Heaven. What a sublime idea I then formed, O René! of a religion which, in the midst of deserts, amid the wants of life, pours innumerable comforts on a wretched being; of a religion which can, at will, curb the most impetuous passion, when the secrecy of woods, the absence of men, the mystery of the shade, all seem to favor it. How heavenly she looked, the ingenious savage, the innocent Atala, when on her knees before a fallen pine, which seemed as a victim at the foot of the altar, she offered to the Lord of life through the tufted trees the most fervent prayers for the conversion of her idolatrous lover. Her eyes turned toward the refulgent lamp of night, her cheeks bedewed with tears of love and piety, she appeared like an immortal spirit. Often did I think I saw her take her flight to Heaven; often methought I saw descending from the azure skies, and that I heard whispering among the branches, those aërial beings the Great Spirit sends to the holy hermits of the rocks, when he chooses to recall them to his bosom. I trembled, as I feared Atala had but a short time to spend on this mortal earth.

She sobbed, she wept so bitterly, she looked so distressed, that I felt almost tempted to obey and leave her, when the cries of death resounded through the forest, and I was seized by four armed warriors. Our flight had been discovered, and their chief had sent them in our pursuit.

Atala, who seemed divine, so dignified were her mien and her steps, cast a scornful look on them; and, without uttering a word, she hastened to her father.

He was deaf to all her supplications, he increased the number of my guards, he doubled my fetters, and refused to let my beloved come near me. Five days elapsed, and we perceived Apalachucla lying near the river Chatautché. I was immediately crowned with flowers, my face was painted with blue and vermilion, pearls were tied to my nose and ears, and a Chechikoué was put into my hands.

Thus adorned for the sacrifice, I entered Apalachucla, followed by the shouts of an immense crowd. I gave myself up for lost, when the sound of a conch was heard, and the Mico, chief of the whole tribe, ordered the council to assemble. You know, my boy, what horrid tortures the savages inflict upon

their prisoners of war. Christian missionaries, at the peril of their lives, with an indefatigable zeal had prevailed on several nations to replace, by a mild slavery, the torments of death. The Muscogulges had not yet adopted that humane custom; but a numerous party had declared for it; and it was to determine on that important question that Mico had assembled the Sachems. I was brought to the hall of debate, situate on an isolated spot near Apalachucla. Three circles of columns composed the elegant and simple architecture of the building: they were made of cypress, well carved and polished; the columns augmented in height and size and decreased in number as they drew near the center, which was supported by a single pillar, from whose top long strips of bark, bending over the other columns, covered the rotunda like a transparent fan.

The council met. Fifty old men, clad in magnificent beaver cloaks, sat upon steps opposite the entrance of the pavilion; the great chief stood in the midst of them, holding in his hand the calumet of peace, half painted for war. On the right of the elders were placed fifty matrons, dressed in flowing garments, made of the down of swans. The chiefs of the warriors, a tomahawk in their hands, feathers on their heads, their wrists and breasts stained with blood, sat on the left. At the foot of the central column burnt the fire of council. The first juggler, followed by eight attendants in long robes, a stuffed owl on his head, threw some copal in the flame, and offered a sacrifice to the sun. The triple range of elders, matrons, and warriors, the clouds of frankincense, the sacrifice, all gave to the savage council an awful and pompous appearance.

I stood in the center loaded with chains. The sacrifice over, the Mico simply exposed the reasons for which he had convened them, and threw a blue collar in the room as a token of what he had said. Then arose a Sachem, of the tribe of the

eagle, who spoke thus:

"Father and venerable Mico, Sachems, matrons, and you warriors of the tribes of the eagle, the beaver, the serpent, and the tortoise, do not alter any of the customs of our ancestors: burn the prisoner. Let no reason whatever abate our courage The plan was suggested by white men, and therefore must be pernicious: here is a red collar as a pledge of my words." And he threw it in the hall.

"Father of the tribe of the eagle, you possess the shrewd