“Our expedition was successful. We followed the trail
of the savages for many miles, and at last came up with
a party of them who were left in charge of the captives.
They were about equal to us in number. We attacked
them with ferocity, and succeeded in liberating the prisoners.
With their assistance the victory was soon decided
in our favour. The Indians were slaughtered to
a man; our own loss was trifling. Upon me as leader
and instigator of the pursuit, the thanks of the captives
were prodigally bestowed. There was one in particular
whose gratitude much delighted me. It was a beautiful
young girl who had been carried off with several others
of her sex. Eunice Blake was the daughter of a wealthy
settler, and her unbounded joy at her deliverance may

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easily be conceived. It was very natural that she should
look upon her preserver with partial eyes. I believe her
attachment dated from the moment she first beheld me.
It was not singular; for now that I am on the verge of
the grave, and have long outlived all youthful vanity, I
have no hesitation in saying that there was no youth in
the valley whose personal attractions compared with
mine. It was a slander of my enemies to say that my
expression was disagreeable.

“We returned to P—, and I had the satisfaction of
restoring Eunice to the embraces of her friends. I lingered
in the village for several days; during this time
our mutual passion had increased to the most violent
degree.

“As soon as this was apparent, the parents of my Eunice
gave me to understand that my visits were no longer
acceptable. Their gratitude was not proof against the
fear of an utter stranger's addresses to their only child.

“I have omitted to state, that on coming to the wilderness,
I had dropped my family name, and was known
throughout the valley by my baptismal one of Morris.

“I had acquired, however, from the Indians the cognomen
of Patanko, which was my most common designation.

“It was hardly to be wondered at that Patanko Morris,
an adventurer whom no one knew should not be
considered an eligible husband for the most beautiful girl
in the province. Moreover, I now learned, for the first
time, that she was already betrothed by her parents.
Although she had entertamed no violent affection for the
object of their choice, yet it was considered by all a match
to which there could be no objection; and Eunice, who
had previously been a stranger to any passionate feeling,
had found no difficulty in giving her consent.

[figure description] Page 203.[end figure description]

“It was very different, now that she had conceived a
desperate affection for the wild and wayward preserver
of her life.

“I felt insulted and aggrieved, and it was at that moment
that the darkest period of my life commenced. It
is a fact on which I shall offer no comment—for I am
merely recording a confession, and not composing a moral
essay—that my love for Eunice was extinguished, for
the moment at least, in the dark tempest which now
spread itself over my mind.

“I communed with myself, and I felt more keenly
than ever that I was the slave and the sport of an evil
destiny. My name was blackened, my character irremediably
destroyed, and my prospects in life blasted before
I had emerged from my boyhood. Each succeeding
year had only told the same tale and repeated the ill-fated
lesson which I had now learned by heart, and all this
without my being conscious of a single crime.

“I am well aware that a strong and well-regulated
mind would perhaps have only gained new energy by
such constant opposition. But my nature had been too
long abandoned to itself. It was overgrown with weeds,
and the blessed and healthy fountains of good were well
nigh choked and buried.

“At this moment I threw off all desire for good. At
this moment I resigned myself to my evil genius. I felt
that my arms were palsied with struggling against the
ceaseless current which must eventually bear me down,
and I blindly abandoned myself to my fate. It was at
this moment that I became really wicked. I have not,
my son, the slightest inclination to extenuate my crimes.
I have penned this confession that you might know exactly
how far my guilt extended, and because I have

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been accused of a thousand crimes of which I was always
incapable, and from which my son will be glad to
acquit the memory of his father.

“I write also that you may take warning from my fate,
and to convey to you, as strongly as I can, the principle
that the greatest weakness is to acknowledge that you
are weak, and that the surest way to accomplish an evil
destiny, is to believe in it.

“At this moment I became really a villain—because
I believed that I was fated to become one. It was with
a feeling of relief that I threw off all restraint, and threw
myself into the arms of my evil genius.

“I swore revenge against the Blakes. The first victim
was Eunice. I easily accomplished her ruin, for she
loved and trusted me, and then, when the family were
humbled to the dust, I fled the place.

“A few months after my return to my own habitation,
I received a second letter from Joshua. Alas! its contents
and its language were widely different from the last.
The letter I have preserved, but it is unnecessary to lay
it before you; suffice that I inform you of its purport.

“I already knew that Joshua and Augustine had both
been in the valley the preceding summer, at a time when
I was absent on a hunting excursion. I now learned for
the first time that they had both become violently in love
with Eunice Blake; that Joshua, on discovering (as he
had reason to believe) a mutual attachment between
Augustine and Eunice, had, after a desperate struggle,
for his passions were strong, resigned all his pretensions,
and precipitately left the place.

“It was, then, Eunice Blake, the victim of my vengeance,
who was betrothed to Augustine.

“The feelings of my brothers may be easily conceived

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when they received the information of what had taken
place. It was at the moment that Augustine was leaving
his home for the residence of his beloved, that the
fatal tidings arrived. It was not however for several
weeks that Patanko Morris and Morris Morton were discovered
to be one and the same person.

“Augustine destroyed himself in a moment of frenzy.
Joshua, after writing to me in the most harrowing terms,
abjuring all relationship, and bequeathing to me his
eternal curse, abandoned his country. He remained
long beyond the Atlantic, and I heard of him no more.

“My son! the agony which was the consequence of a
real crime, how widely did I find to differ from the
moodiness which had previously been excited within me
by the consciousness of a perverse fate! Alas! I have
suffered for that crime, but I feel even now that it is not
expiated.

“As soon as I was sufficiently recovered to be able to
consider my situation at all, I resolved to make all the
reparation in my power.

“It will easily be believed that the objections of the
Blakes to my union with Eunice were slightly weakened
by what had happened. Although my victim was on
the brink of the grave, and entirely indifferent to all that
could happen in this world; yet she was willing (in the
hope of lightening the misery which weighed down her
parents to the dust) to unite herself to her detestable
destroyer.

“Preparations were made for the wedding, and the day
was at last fixed.

“We were assembled on a gloomy autumnal

[figure description] Page 206.[end figure description]

afternoon at the habitation of Nathan Blake; the minister
of the village was about to perform the ceremony.

“Before its termination, however, we were alarmed
by a great commotion without. There was much
shouting and hurrying to and fro and presently the terrific
Indian yell was heard on every side. My worst
suspicions were realized. The bloodhounds were again
upon us.

“The incomplete marriage was interrupted. In a
few moments a bullet had whistled through the room.
There was a tolerably strong party in the house, and we
had plenty of guns and ammunition. We barricaded
the doors and windows, and prepared for a desperate defence.

“The house of Blake was considerably in advance of
the main body of the village. Its position was solitary
but tolerably strong. I soon discovered that it was myself
who was the main object of the attack. It had become
known to the Indians that the detestable Patanko
was to be present at that place and time; and a large
party of the friends of those who had fallen in our last
skirmish, had vowed my destruction.

“An attack of Indians was not, however, so unfrequent
in that quarter that the settlers were not usually
provided with the means of defence.

“Our guns were loaded, and a sudden volley from
the second story window, which brought two of our assailants
to the ground, somewhat astonished the enemy.
In the meantime featherbeds and blankets were suspended
from the ceilings and across the windows, which
served the double purpose of a barricade and a reservoir
of ammunition. The women loaded our gups, and a
constant fire was kept up upon the savages. Nearly all

[figure description] Page 207.[end figure description]

our bullets were successful, while our party were so well
protected that as yet not a single wound had been rereceived.

“Eunice was the boldest of the party Indeed it was
the first time for a long period that she had manifested
any feeling of humanity. She had hitherto been to all
appearances an animated corpse.

“She was most efficient in loading our muskets, and
exposed herself constantly despite of all my endeavours
to prevent her.

“It seemed to me at last, that she was more than indifferent
to life and that she rather hoped than feared our
eventual destruction.

“It was not long before my worst fears were realized.
A bullet struck her. She uttered a faint shriek. I rushed
forward and caught her in my arms. It was too late.—
Her deeply-injured spirit had passed away without a
struggle. The interrupted bridal was for ever banned.
Earthly reparation was no longer in my power. I cast
myself frantically upon the ground, and bitterly cursed
my terrible destiny.

“It was no time, however, to give way to useless lamentations.
My companions roused me, and after a little
interval my grief changed to the most deadly and
tempestuous rage.

“I was no longer contented to remain in the house
which was the tomb of all my better feelings. I seized
my arms and shaking myself from the grasp of those
who strove to detain me, I rushed forth at once, determined
to wreak my vengeance upon the enemy.

“My sudden sally had astonished the savages. Before
they were scarcely aware of my presence I had already
slain two of the foremost. It was, however,

[figure description] Page 208.[end figure description]

impossible for me to avoid the penalty of my rashness. I
was surrounded at once. I dealth the most furious blows
about me. They were more successful than they might
otherwise have been, for the Indians were bent upon
capturing me alive. My resistance, however desperate,
was of no avail. I was captured, and knew that the
most exquisite tortures were in store for me. I recked it
not. I had at least glutted my revenge. Eunice was
dead, and I welcomed death.