Being
an excellent swimmer, he was not long in gaining the
spot, where, exhausted with the exertion she had made,
and encumbered with her awkward machecoti, the poor girl
was already on the point of perishing. But for his timely
assistance, indeed, she must have sunk to the bottom;
and, since that period, the grateful being had been
remarked for the strong but unexpressed attachment she
felt for her deliverer. This, however, was the first
moment Captain de Haldimar became acquainted with the
extent of feelings, the avowal of which not a little
startled and surprised, and even annoyed him. The last
question, however, suggested a thought that kindled every
fibre of his being into expectancy,--Oucanasta might be
the saviour of those he loved; and he felt that, if time
were but afforded her, she would. He rose from the log,
dropped on one knee before the Indian, seized both her
hands with eagerness, and then in tones of earnest
supplication whispered,--
"Oucanasta is right: the pale girl with the skin like
snow, and hair like the fur of the squirrel, is the bride
of the Saganaw. Long before he saved the life of Oucanasta,
he knew and loved that pale girl.
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