We had seen the rich
fruit-trees waving in the soft air, the tender herbs shooting upwards
under the benign influence of the bright sun; and the next day we had
seen these good and beautiful trees and plants uprooted by the
hurricane, crushed and hurled to the ground in destructive devastation.
We had lived for many months in a clime for the most part so beautiful
that we had often wondered whether Adam and Eve had found Eden more sweet;
and we had seen the quiet solitudes of our paradise suddenly broken in
upon by ferocious savages, and the white sands stained with blood and
strewed with lifeless forms; yet among these cannibals we had seen many
symptoms of a kindly nature. I pondered these things much, and while I
considered them there recurred to my memory those words which I had
read in my Bible--"The works of God are wonderful, and His ways past
finding out."
After these poor savages had left us we used to hold long and frequent
conversations about them, and I noticed that Peterkin's manner was now
much altered. He did not, indeed, jest less heartily than before, but
he did so less frequently, and often there was a tone of deep
seriousness in his manner, if not in his words, which made him seem to
Jack and me as if he had grown two years older within a few days. But
indeed I was not surprised at this, when I reflected on the awful
realities which we had witnessed so lately. We could by no means shake
off a tendency to gloom for several weeks afterwards; but as time wore
away our usual good spirits returned somewhat, and we began to think of
the visit of the savages with feelings akin to those with which we
recall a terrible dream.
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