Distraction stung his burning brain;
No rest he found by day or night—
She was forever in his sight.”
But the wandering tribe to which the girl belonged folded their tents and slipped away to the solitudes of the mountains. They had left no trace of their going—no hint of where they might be found, and the luckless maid found herself far from her lover with no possible means of communicating with him, while the frantic boy was wandering through the wilds in the almost hopeless search for his love.
“He sought her in rosy bower and silent glade,
Where the palm trees flung refreshing shade;
Through grove and frowning glen he lonely strayed,
And with his griefs the rocks were vocal made.”[[264]]
Alarmed by the condition of his son, the old chieftain gathered his men for an organized search, and at last they found the mountain stronghold of the tribe they sought.
They were challenged by a stern voice beyond the rocky barriers, which demanded: