The early part of the tumult they had noticed
almost without comprehending its cause, and but for the
terrific cry of the Indians that had preceded them, would
have mistaken the deafening broadsides for the blowing
up of the vessel, so tremendous and violent bad been the
concussion. Nay, there was a moment when Miss de Haldimar
felt a pang of deep disappointment and regret at the
misconception; for, with the fearful recollection of past
events, so strongly impressed on her bleeding heart, she
could not but acknowledge, that to be engulfed in one
general and disastrous explosion, was mercy compared with
the alternative of falling into the hands of those to
whom her loathing spirit bad been too fatally taught to
deny even the commonest attributes of humanity. As for
Clara, she had not the power to think, or to form a
conjecture on the subject:--she was merely sensible of
a repetition of the horrible scenes from which she had
so recently been snatched, and with a pale cheek, a fixed
eye, and an almost pulseless heart, lay without motion
in the inner side of the berth. The piteous spectacle of
her cousin's alarm lent a forced activity to the despair
of Miss de Haldimar, in whom apprehension produced that
strong energy of excitement that sometimes gives to
helplessness the character of true courage.
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