"As I have said, she was troubled by no human feeling; but alas! she inspired what she did not feel, for all the young braves worshipped her, not only as a priestess, but as a peerless maiden, and all their awe could not destroy their love. As she knew every thing, she was of course aware of their silent devotion, but she laughed in the solitude of her wigwam, and sang:
'Alstarnah must no passion own,
That mortal e'er before hath known.'
"And this she would sing over and over to herself, that she might keep the words of the magician in mind. But after the lapse of many years, she one day ceased to sing, for Alstarnah felt the most powerful of all human passions—she loved."
"I'm glad of that!" ejaculated Gus, "just paid her out for keeping up that monotonous drone so long."
"Oh! don't interrupt!" cried Aggie, impatiently, "who did she love, Guy?"
"The young chief, Gervassen, who had come many thousand miles from the burning plains of the far south, to behold the renowned priestess of the mountains. As Alstarnah excelled all women in beauty and wisdom, so did he all men in beauty and strength. He was as tall and slender as the mountain pine, and his face was as fair to look upon as the great star that hung above the North King's palace. He came to the mountains with great pomp, for a thousand of his enemies pursued him, and he slew them all with the masses of rock that he hurled down upon them. See, there they lie now like mighty castles in ruins.
"When the priestess, Alstarnah, saw this man she thought no more of the magician's words or of her own power, but gloried in the beauty that had been given her, and said, 'He will surely love me, for there is not upon all the earth a woman as fair.'