"Why, because we honor you both, and love you both so dearly that we are eager to give you the greatest of all blessings, and to deny you nothing that is in our power to bestow." "Do you mean to sacrifice both of us ?" I gasped.
"Of course." "What! Almah too ?" "Certainly.

Why should we be so cruel to the dear child as to deprive her of so great a boon ?" At this I groaned aloud and turned away in despair.
Many joms now passed away.

I grew more and more melancholy and desperate.

I thought sometimes of fighting my way out.

My fire-arms were now my chief consolation; for I had fully made up my mind not to die quietly like a slaughtered calf, but to strike a blow for life, and meet my death amid slain enemies.