revenge themselves for all their past wrongs at her father's hands,
fancied or real. The negroes and their chiefs were only too intent upon
the treasures their fancy depicted, to think or care for Maud herself,
or to question the reason of her unnatural treachery. So they promised
to enter the stockade under her direction, rob the house, and then
screen the deed they had committed by burning the dwelling and all
within its precincts.

While this diabolical plan had been thoroughly concocted, Captain Ratlin
and the two English ladies had passed many pleasant hours together, all
unconscious of there being any danger at hand, and even Maud, with
subtle treachery, seemed more open and free than she had been in her
intercourse with them at first. But when she thought herself unobserved,
she would at times permit a reflex of her soul to steal over her dark,
handsome features, and the fire of passion to flash from her eye. At
such moments, the Quadroon became completely unsexed, and could herself
scarcely contain her own anger and passion so far as not to spring,
tiger-like, upon the object of her hatred. But the hour for the attempt
upon the dwelling, and the destruction of its inhabitants, drew near.
The negroes had sworn to stand by each other, and had sacrificed an
infant to their deity, to propitiate him and insure success.

It was long past midnight that the blacks might have been seen pouring
out of the adjacent jungle nearest to the house. They had selected the
hour for their attack when they supposed the dwellers in the
stockade-house would be soundest wrapped in sleep, and they had indeed
chosen well, and all their plans had been carefully arranged. But just
as Maud opened the secret entrance for them to pass in, and she herself
passed out, to flee for the time being from the scene, Don Leonardo came
out from his sleeping-apartment, followed by a trusty slave, and