They  had  arrived  very  near  to  the  cove  where
Oneco  had  moored  his  canoe.  He  good-naturedly
pointed  towards  it,  and  told  Jennet  that  there  she
should  be  released.  But  the  hope  of  release  by  a
mode  much  more  satisfactory  to  her  feelings,  inas-
much as  it  would  involve  her  companions  in  danger,
had  dawned  on  Jennet.  She  had  just  perceived
some  men  (how  many  she  could  not  tell,  for  the
night  was  then  dark),  who  were,  unobserved  by
Oneco,  stealing  towards  them.     She  withdrew  a  few


HOPE    LESLIE.  227

inches,  as  far  as  she  dared  from  his  side,  lest  he
should  execute  sudden  vengeance  \Yith  the  weapon
which  he  still  held  in  his  hand.  Her  conjectures
Avere  now  converted  to  certainty,  and  she  already
mentally  exulted  in  the  retaliation  she  should  inflict
on  her  companions  ;  but,  alas  !

"  Esser  vicino  al  lido
Molti  fra  naufragar ;"

or,  to  express  the  same  truth  by  our  vernacular  ad-
age, "  There's  many  a  slip  between  the  cup  and  the
lip."  The  men  did  approach,  even  to  her  side ;  and
without  listening  to  her  protestations  of  who  she
was  and  who  her  companions  were — without  even
hearing  them,  they  seized  on  her,  and,  suffering  the
other  parties  to  escape  without  any  annoyance,
bound  her  hood  and  handkerchief  over  her  head  and
face,  and,  as  our  readers  have  already  anticipated,
conveyed  her  to  that  awful  destiny  which  she  had
herself  indirectly  prepared.
