There Was Also Another Strong Inducement, Which Operated Upon The Mind Of The Landers, To Expedite Their Departure, And That

Was, that from some circumstances which had occurred, it was not beyond the range of probability, that the head of

John Lander, if not of his brother also, might be severed by the skill of Ebo, the executioner. Love is certainly a most wondrous power, whether it shows itself in the bosom of the fair English girl, or in that of the sooty African; nor is it confined to times and places, to condition or to climate; for it grows and flourishes in the wigwam of the American, the coozie of the African, and the proud edifices of the Europeans. It, however, sometimes happens, that although one party may be in love, the other is as frigid, as if he were part and parcel of an iceberg, and so was it situated with John Lander. It has been already stated, that the communication between the yard which the Landers occupied, and that which was tenanted by the wives of Ebo, was uninterrupted, and of course in the absence of their husband, there was no impediment to any of them whispering their tale of love into the ears of the juvenile travellers, whenever they thought they were in a disposition to hear it. Some of the wives indeed, instead of being the nourishers and fosterers of love, were the veriest antidotes to it, that perhaps human nature could produce; on the other hand, there were some in the fullness and freshness of youth, who had just been selected or rather purchased by Ebo, as very proper persons to soothe and comfort him in his declining years.

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