It was his intention rather to become his own pledge of faith, than to risk the security of his child. Known in Sicily as the orphan ward of Don Emanuel, she had hitherto lived unsuspected, under the protection of his sister: it was true, most people concluded her to be the illegitimate offspring of her reputed guardian, but that conclusion excited no further inquiries, and threatened her with no danger: it was therefore the safest asylum in which affection could place her. Having formed his resolution, Sebastian lost no time in beginning to act: he settled his arrangements at Cachoeira; he left the largest portion of his remaining property in the hands he had proposed, and preparing his mind for toils and troubles to which it was now disused, he bade an eternal farewel to Brazil. It was a day of dismal sadness at Cachoeira, when its founder departed: the importunate lamentations of his Indians followed him even to St. Salvador; many of them petitioned to go with him, some refused to quit his side till they saw him embarked, others flung themselves into the sea and swam after the ship. Sebastian had thanks and benedictions for them all: Kara Aziek repaid them with her tears, and affectionate though mournful smiles. She knew they were never to meet again, and her heart ached to think how delusive were the hopes of their return, which each ardent native continued to express, and demanded to have confirmed. At length the sounds of sorrow no longer reached them from the receding shore, it became more distant every moment, it lessened to a speck, it sunk beneath the horizon! They looked back, and that vast continent was blotted out from their sight: nothing remained but their solitary vessel in the midst of that solemn and toiling ocean, beyond which they were going to court difficulty and danger. Their situation was like that of a soul returning a second time into mortal life, after having long reposed on the calm of another world. Kara Aziek doubted whether she should have strength to encounter the cares inseparable from such a change; and Sebastian searched his spirit to discover some of that fire and decisiveness which once predominated in his character, though it had lain dormant at Cachoeira. Bereft of Don Emanuel De Castro, he felt dependent chiefly on himself: (for Don Juan he remembered merely as a very young lord whose character was not yet developed when they sailed for Africa,) he shuddered to think what might ensue should the Duke of Medina fail him at this awful moment: should he have betrayed the secret of Blanche’s birth, her parents might be hastening only to hear that their innocent child was immured in a Castillian prison; but should he prove faithful, his counsel might in some measure atone for the loss of De Castro.