With the
increasing clamour of appalling conflict on deck, this
excitement grew at every moment stronger, until it finally
became irrepressible, so that at length, when through
the cabin windows there suddenly streamed a flood of
yellow light, extinguishing that of the lamp that threw
its flickering beams around the cabin, she flung herself
impetuously from the berth, and, despite of the aged and
trembling female who attempted to detain her, burst open
the narrow entrance to the cabin, and rushed up the steps
communicating with the deck.
The picture that here met her eyes was at once graphic
and fearful in the extreme. On either side of the river
lines of streaming torches were waved by dusky warriors
high above their heads, reflecting the grim countenances,
not only of those who bore them, but of dense groups in
their rear, whose numbers were alone concealed by the
foliage of the forest in which they stood. From the
branches that wove themselves across the centre of the
river, and the topmast and rigging of the vessel, the
same strong yellow light, produced by the bark of the
birch tree steeped in gum, streamed down upon the decks
below, rendering each line and block of the schooner as
distinctly visible as if it had been noon on the sunniest
of those far distant lakes.
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