THE CHRONICLES OF THE NATCHEZ These pages have been poorly written if he who reads has not discovered that I am of a nature not easily discouraged by events, or disheartened by misfortune.

God had sufficiently armored me with hope; so that in the midst of much darkness I sought for whatever light of guidance there might be, making the most of it.

Yet the intense, unanticipated loneliness of that bare hut chilled my blood, and I scarcely recall a more wretched time than while I waited, stung and tortured by fears, for the return of De Noyan.
In truth the rough conclusions voiced by the angry sectary merely confirmed my own fear.

I had marked within the eyes of Naladi--dreamy as they appeared beneath the shading of long lashes--no promise of tenderness of heart.

I believed it was seldom she inclined to mercy, seldom she would step between her warriors and their revenge.