to give a most sprightly turn to her conversation, in which her merits and failings developed themselves with the most natural effect. She took great delight in speaking of the emperor, whose attachment for her, in her youthful days, she described in the most glowing terms.

"That affection, Briton," said the Amazon chief, with a deep sigh, in continuation of her previous remarks, " has passed away, and with its loss, my heart is steeled against either the delights or the torments of love. Yes-Mars is now the god of my idolatry, and a wild, roving life the object of my adoration, though, there was a time, when the affections of my mind were as gentle, as its passions, now are harsh and masculine. The constitutional mildness of my disposition, will still, occasionally, have the mastery over the force of habit, and cause me to regret having strayed from the flowery to the thorny paths of life, but which still have their charms, though they are of a kind unsuited to

sex."

small cluster of tents, and, while they were taking off their wine, they were treated by the Saracen page, with an eastern song of romance, in a most pleasing and affecting style.

By degrees, the gay yellow of the evening, faded to a misty grey, and then night set in in darkness. All, save the two sentinels, now sought their couch, and total silence soon reigned throughout the small encamp

ment.

Their quiet was of short duration. A wandering tribe of Arabs, consisting of more than a thousand, surprised the sentinels, whom they disarmed, surrounded and filled the tents, immediately laid hands on all the arms, and made the Christians, who were deprived of all means of resistance, prisoners.

"Look to the spoils, comrades," said the commander of the tribe. "We will, afterwards, quickly dispose of the Christians. They shall have the full benefit of the example they set us, early in these wars, of instant vengeance upon the faithful. Some of ye bring out the pri

soners; them."

let us see how many there are of

While the horses, camels, and spoils, were being collected on one spot, the unfortunate Christians were being drawn together before the Arab chief, who remained mounted.

The light of many links glared on the midnight gloom, and exhibited the ferocious visages, of the lawless Arabs, to their devoted prisoners. The savage appearances, and the wild description of accoutrements of the men, contrasted, widely, with those of their chief, whose tout ensemble wore the air of a court, and not that of the chief of a wild horde of roving banditti, for such they were, though, they conformed, greatly, to the laws of the empire, frequently formed part of the army of the faithful, and were esteemed good Mahometans, deviating only in two slight matters from the principles of their faith—practising plunder and robbery of the caravans of the travelling merchants, and in meeting with resistance, putting all who accompanied them to the sword, though, at times, they were

capable of acts which would do honor to the most refined society and regions. Their principle characteristic, at this period, was ferocious revenge upon all the Europeans they fell in with.

There was great elegance and richness displayed in the martial appointments of the chief of the Arabs, but Sir Lionel remarked, a feminine arrangement about them which did not well accord with that which was characteristic of a calling so wild, reckless, and daring. The Arab commander, in short, was a descendant of the princesses of the race of Amazons, and studied to retain all their peculiarities. She was the last princess of the Amazonian race; and her tribe of Arabs, which she had formed herself, were most devotedly attached to her. She had been extremely beautiful, but the extraordinary life she had made choice of, had, by degrees, given a masculine cast to features, which, in early life, had been delicately soft and feminine. Her disposition, too, had undergone a similar change. Her warlike appearance, was femi

ninely masculine, and there was a mixture of masculine firmness, and feminine indecision

Yet she was

and weakness in her character. capable of forming a determined resolution, which nothing could shake, and which had been proved, in various instances, in the persons of many luckless straggling Christian soldiers, who had the misfortune of falling in the way of her tribe-they had, to a man, perished.

"I demand to know," said Sir Lionel, who was without his helmet, in a tone and attitude of dignity, "I demand to know, the reason of this unjust and faithless outrage. We are travelling to the coast for embarkation, on the faith of a truce, granted to our king, his people, and friends."

"I know of no truce," answered the Amazon-chief, "nor will I respect one. What faith and justness were there, in ye're coming hither to ravage and despoil? Answer me to that, and then I may learn, why they should be observed towards thee."

"In broad and open warfare, we came," returned Sir Lionel," and in broad and open