“Let me take the office of bearing those remains,” he said; “to you it would be too severe a task.”
Selem offered no resistance, as the Gipsy enveloped the body in his horseman’s cloak, and placed it before him on his saddle. A follower of Arslan Gherrei carried the body of Javis, in like manner; while Thaddeus rode by Selem’s side, offering vain consolation to a heart so deeply wounded.
After riding some distance, the party separated; some to return to the camp, and a few, among whom was Alp, to accompany Selem to the valley of Abran Bashi.
Volume Three—Chapter Eleven.
It was a sad and mournful train which returned to the valley of Abran Bashi, the scene but a few days before of the bridal festival and of joy. Selem had sent to announce his return to his sister, with an account of the sad catastrophe which had occurred. As the cortège approached the house of the chief, she, her woman, and the other females of the hamlet, came out to meet them; and into their hands the remains of the slaughtered Azila were committed.
The Gipsy approached Selem, who, after embracing his sister, had sauntered through the grove to indulge in his grief unseen.
“Young chief,” he said, “where shall my poor child be buried?”
How sadly, how harshly did those words grate on Selem’s ears! How many unutterable thoughts of anguish and regret do they summon to the mind of all! The closing for ever of some loved object from our view—the sad reality of death, before only looked on as a remote object!