Giving him one frightened
glance, she turned and sped like some strange tropic bird upon the
wind. Moved by wonder, curiosity, and admiration, the young man gave
stealthy chase; but, after following in the wake of her flying feet by
bush and brier, and through the tangled thickets of the forest, he had
the poor satisfaction of losing sight of her altogether, and then
gaining one last glimpse of her, as, from the dense shadowy point
where she became invisible, shot out a birch-bark canoe, and the dying
sunset illumined with all the hues of victory the superb form of an
Algonquin maiden rapidly rowing away. Hot, irritated, and tired,
Edward returned home, nor did he observe that, in this fruitless
chase, one of the pure buds that Helene had given him had fallen from
his breast, on which he had pinned it, and had been rudely crushed
beneath his heel.
CHAPTER IV.
INDIAN ANNALS AND LEGENDS.
The last flame of sunset had gone out on a horizon of ashy paleness,
as the light bark of the Indian girl swept up the beach, and its
occupant, after making it secure, loitered idly home. Here, undismayed
by observation, she was as gracefully at ease as a fawn in its leafy
covert, and as quickly startled into flight at the tread of a stranger.
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