Yet there are main points, amid the little details of their career, which it would be unpardonable to pass over in silence.

To these we shall briefly refer before letting the curtain fall.
There is a distant isle of the sea, a beautiful spot, an oceanic gem, which has been reclaimed by the word of God from those regions that have been justly styled "the dark places of the earth." We will not mention its name; we will not even indicate its whereabouts, lest we should furnish a clue to the unromantic myrmidons of the law, whose inflexible justice is only equaled by their pertinacity in tracking the criminal to his lair! On this beautiful isle, at the time of our tale, the churches and houses of Christian men had begun to rise.

The natives had begun to cultivate the arts of civilization, and to appreciate, in some degree, the inestimable blessings of Christianity.

The plow had torn up the virgin soil, and the anchors of merchant-ships had begun to kiss the strand.
The crimes peculiar to civilized men had not yet been developed.

The place had all the romance and freshness of a flourishing infant colony.
Early one fine morning, a half-decked boat rowed into the harbor of this isle, and ran alongside the little quay, where the few natives who chanced to be lounging there were filled with admiration at the sight of five stalwart men who leaped upon the rocks, an active lad who held the boat steady, and a handsome middle-aged woman, who was assisted to land with much care by the tallest of her five companions.
There were a few small bales of merchandise in the boat.