At length the corps to
which I had attached myself was repulsed; and I saw, with
rage in my heart, that my enemy still lived to triumph
in the fruit of his villainy.
"Although I was grown considerably in stature at this
period, and was otherwise greatly altered in appearance,
I had been recognised in the action by numbers of the
regiment; and, indeed, more than once I had, in the
intoxication of my rage, accompanied the blow that slew
or maimed one of my former associates with a declaration
of the name of him who inflicted it. The consequence was,
I was denounced as a rebel and an outlaw, and a price
was put upon my head. Accustomed, however, as I had ever
been, to rocks and fastnesses, I had no difficulty in
eluding the vigilance of those who were sent in pursuit
of me; and thus compelled to live wholly apart from my
species, I at length learned to hate them, and to know
that man is the only enemy of man upon earth.
"A change now came ever the spirit of my vengeance; for
about this period your mother died. I had never ceased
to love, even while I despised her; and notwithstanding,
had she, after her flagrant inconstancy, thrown herself
into my arms, I should have rejected her with scorn,
still I was sensible no other woman could ever supply
her place in my affection.
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