A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 190: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A QUEER RACE. 187 much more serious than in the excitement of the com-- bat [ had any idea of. The wounded had been removed to Fairhaven by sea, and as there was no publie hospital in the place they were taken to private houses, myself and _ several others to the queen’s house. . As I lie, with my eyes half closed, listening to the car- oling of birds and drinking in the sweet scent of flowers (for the day is young), I go over in my mind all that has happened to me since | left Hngland, and I ask myself, What next? lam as resolved as ever to go back—it ig’ my duty to go back—I must go back. And yet, and yet —though | struggle against the feeling, and try to ignore it, { know that in my heart of hearts | do not want to go back. Why? I had all along admired Mab, and now—— Ishould be sorry to leave her. As I arrive at this stage of my reflections, the subject of them enters the room. She is in deep mourning, for, like everybody else at Fairhaven, she has to lament the loss of kinsmen and friends. Ofthe fifteen hundred who went out to the fight, less than a thousand returned to their homes. Among the slain is Amyas. He was one of the last to fall, and nobly redeemed the promise he had made to his cousin. “JT am glad you are so much better to-day, and that the doctor allows you to talk a littie,” said Mab. She was more subdued in manner than | had ever seen her, ~ and the pallor of her face and the dark lines about her eyes showed how much she had suffered and how deeply she sympathized with the sorrows of her people. ‘Yes, [am very much better, and I think I shall soon be all right again; but the scenes I witnessed at Wynter’s Tiill will never be effaced from my memory. I dream of them every night. Itwaslike pandemonium. Have you heard whether any of the Cariberoes escaped ?” ‘‘So far as we can ascertain, not one. None have been seen, and we have taken possession of all their canoes. But it is time we talked about yourself. ‘The victory was dearty bought, yet it was worth the price; it has saved the commonwealth, and | don’t think the Cariberoes will ever invade us again—at any rate, not inourtime. Well, this victory we owe to you——” “No, no! If you had only seen how pluckily those (x @) Al Cc 00 SH (E(0)