'Fear not, Oriana,' replied Jyanough, 'he never more will darken your way through life. He has met the death he designed for Henrich, and let us think of him no more. It is time to return to the camp; and your husband and I will support you down the hill.' 'I am well, quite well, now !' cried Oriana, and she rose from the ground, and clung to Henrich's arm, as if to assure herself of his presence and safety. 'I could walk through the world thus supported, and thus guarded, too,' she added, as she stroked the head of the joyous Rodolph, who now bounded round her and Henrich with all his wonted spirit. 'I owe much to my two trusty friends; for, but for their care and watchfulness, what would now have been my dreadful fate! Let us leave this spot--so beautiful, but now so full of fearful images!' CHAPTER XVII. ‘Hither and thither; hither and thither! Madly they fly! Whither, O, whither! Whither, O, whither? - 'Tis but to die! Fire is behind them: fire is, around them: Black is the sky? Horror pursues them; anguish has found them: Destruction is nigh! And where is refuge? where is safety now? Father of mercy! None can Save but Thou?' ANON. 'What is that distant cloud, Henrich?' inquired Oriana, as they rode by Tisquantum's side on the evening of the day of their journey towards the Missouri. 'It seems like the smoke of an encampment, as I see it over the tall waving grass: but it must be too near to be the camp of our people; unless, indeed, they have tarried there, waiting the arrival of Coubitant, who never will rejoin them more.' 'I see the cloud you speak of, Oriana; and I have been watching it with some anxiety for several minutes. It cannot be what you suggest, for you know your father received a message from the trusty Salon--next in command to Coubitant--to tell him that their leader not having joined the party as he promised, a search had been made, and his mangled body found at the foot of the rock, where, it was supposed, he must have fallen in attempting the sleep descent. Salon's messenger further stated that, having buried the corpse where it lay, he had led the people on, and should pursue the path pointed out by Coubitant, and hasten to prepare the necessary huts for our reception. I dispatched the messenger again with further directions to Salon; and ere this, no doubt, the encampment is formed on the shores of the great river to which we are journeying. 'Father,' he added, as he turned towards Tisquantum, ‘your eye is dim, but your sagacity is as keen as ever. Can you discern that rising smoke, and tell us its cause?'