a smile as the two actors faced each other, marking the look of undisguised horror on his leathern face, and how he shrank back as her hand extended to touch him.  The wild, discordant cries of the grouped savages ceased in wonderment at this unanticipated scene; even the perpetual incantations of the priests died away, every eye gazing curiously on the strange spectacle.  The Puritan had appropriated one of De Noyan’s hats, broad of brim, and so ample of crown the high peaked head of the worthy sectary was almost lost within its capacious interior.  No sooner, however, did he attain her side than the woman grasped it in her white fingers, flinging it disdainfully upon the floor, and, like a flash of unexpected color in the dancing light of the fire, there blazed forth before us his flaming covering with a brilliancy which startled even me.  Saint Andrew! it was a glow to make the eyes blink.

The sudden effect of this disclosure upon the thronging warriors was beyond words of mine.  There followed a hush so painful in intensity I could distinguish the quick throbbing of my own heart.  I saw the woman point at the fellow, giving eager utterance to a single word, her eyes sweeping the faces below.  Then came an irregular rush forward, inarticulate cries pierced the air, war weapons were dashed clanging upon the earthen floor, while numerous torches, grasped from off the sacred altar, were waved aloft by excited hands, all serving to form as demoniacal a scene as was ever witnessed this side of hell.

The full truth flashed across my mind—­our comrade had in that moment been changed from a helpless, beaten prisoner into an object of superstitious worship.  By the magic of a word, the alchemy of a thought, he had become to these superstitious savages a mysterious visitant from the Sun, and for once, at least, he might fervently bless Nature, who had bestowed upon him so rich a coloring of hair.  Whether or not the fellow comprehended the meaning of that uproar, of those wildly dancing figures in his front, I could never determine; but, before the woman could in any way interfere, the sectary plumped down upon his knees, and, with head bent so low that every separate hair caught the reflection of the ruddy flames, began pouring forth a petition in sturdy English, and with a volume of voice that shook the whole interior.  It was not such a bad play, I take it, although he was desperately in earnest.  Very plainly he compared his worshipping auditory to certain scriptural characters, in a way that would not have proven flattering to them could they have interpreted his language.