"
"Ay, 'tis like him!" cried the colonel, rubbing his hands with glee;
"'tis like him! he has forgotten the law and his peaceful occupations,
at the sounds of military preparation, and has carried the head of a
statesman into the fight, with the ardor and thoughtlessness of a boy."
"The Cacique is a man of discretion," observed the captain, with all his
usual dryness of manner, "and will, doubtless, recollect his obligations
to posterity and himself, though he be found entangled in the mazes of a
combat. But I marvel that he does not return, for some time has now
elapsed since the schooner struck her flag, as my own eyes have
witnessed."
"You will pardon me, gentlemen," said Griffith, advancing towards them
with uncontrollable interest; "but I have unavoidably heard part of your
discourse, and cannot think you will find it necessary to withhold the
whole truth from a disarmed captive: say you that a schooner has been
captured this morning?"
"It is assuredly true," said Borroughcliffe, with a display of nature
and delicacy in his manner that did his heart infinite credit; "but I
forbore to tell you, because I thought your own misfortunes would be
enough for one time. Mr. Griffith, this gentleman is Colonel Howard, to
whose hospitality you will be indebted for some favors before we
separate."
"Griffith!" echoed the colonel, in quick reply, "Griffith! what a sight
for my old eyes to witness!--the child of worthy, gallant, loyal Hugh
Griffith a captive, and taken in arms against his prince! Young man,
young man, what would thy honest father, what would his bosom friend, my
own poor brother Harry, have said, had it pleased God that they had
survived to witness this burning shame and lasting stigma on thy
respectable name?"
"Had my father lived, he would now have been upholding the independence
of his native land," said the young man, proudly.
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