{"id":"01KG8AM0FSGADD52Y9WFRY95DF","cid":"bafkreid7ixoo5qm2vulpdmibehoy3qpkrqvrrwgvvlbwlqksayznh5qxza","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5015,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.535Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":4940,"text":"CHAPTER XLIV.\r\nAway!\r\n\r\n\r\nThough clothed in language of my own, the maiden’s story is in\r\nsubstance the same as she related. Yet were not these things narrated\r\nas past events; she merely recounted them as impressions of her\r\nchildhood, and of her destiny yet unaccomplished. And mystical as the\r\ntale most assuredly was, my knowledge of the strange arts of the island\r\npriesthood, and the rapt fancies indulged in by many of their victims,\r\ndeprived it in good part of the effect it otherwise would have\r\nproduced.\r\n\r\nFor ulterior purposes connected with their sacerdotal supremacy, the\r\npriests of these climes oftentimes secrete mere infants in their\r\ntemples; and jealously secluding them from all intercourse with the\r\nworld, craftily delude them, as they grow up, into the wildest\r\nconceits.\r\n\r\nThus wrought upon, their pupils almost lose their humanity in the\r\nconstant indulgence of seraphic imaginings. In many cases becoming\r\ninspired as oracles; and as such, they are sometimes resorted to by\r\ndevotees; always screened from view, however, in the recesses of the\r\ntemples. But in every instance, their end is certain. Beguiled with\r\nsome fairy tale about revisiting the islands of Paradise, they are led\r\nto the secret sacrifice, and perish unknown to their kindred.\r\n\r\nBut, would that all this had been hidden from me at the time. For\r\nYillah was lovely enough to be really divine; and so I might have been\r\ntranced into a belief of her mystical legends.\r\n\r\nBut with what passionate exultation did I find myself the deliverer of\r\nthis beautiful maiden; who, thinking no harm, and rapt in a dream, was\r\nbeing borne to her fate on the coast of Tedaidee. Nor now, for a\r\nmoment, did the death of Aleema her guardian seem to hang heavy upon my\r\nheart. I rejoiced that I had sent him to his gods; that in place of the\r\nsea moss growing over sweet Yillah drowned in the sea, the vile priest\r\nhimself had sunk to the bottom.\r\n\r\nBut though he had sunk in the deep, his ghost sunk not in the deep\r\nwaters of my soul. However in exultations its surface foamed up, at\r\nbottom guilt brooded. Sifted out, my motives to this enterprise\r\njustified not the mad deed, which, in a moment of rage, I had done:\r\nthough, those motives had been covered with a gracious pretense;\r\nconcealing myself from myself. But I beat down the thought.\r\n\r\nIn relating her story, the maiden frequently interrupted it with\r\nquestions concerning myself:—Whence I came: being white, from Oroolia?\r\nWhither I was going: to Amma? And what had happened to Aleema? For she\r\nhad been dismayed at the fray, though knowing not what it could mean;\r\nand she had heard the priest’s name called upon in lamentations. These\r\nquestions for the time I endeavored to evade; only inducing her to\r\nfancy me some gentle demigod, that had come over the sea from her own\r\nfabulous Oroolia. And all this she must verily have believed. For whom,\r\nlike me, ere this could she have beheld? Still fixed she her eyes upon\r\nme strangely, and hung upon the accents of my voice.\r\n\r\nWhile this scene was passing, the strangers began to show signs of\r\nimpatience, and a voice from the Chamois repeatedly hailed us to\r\naccelerate our movements.\r\n\r\nMy course was quickly decided. The only obstacle to be encountered was\r\nthe possibility of Yillah’s alarm at being suddenly borne into my prow.\r\nFor this event I now sought to prepare her. I informed the damsel that\r\nAleema had been dispatched on a long errand to Oroolia; leaving to my\r\ncare, for the present, the guardianship of the lovely Yillah; and that\r\ntherefore, it was necessary to carry her tent into my own canoe, then\r\nwaiting to receive it.\r\n\r\nThis intelligence she received with the utmost concern; and not knowing\r\nto what her perplexity might lead, I thought fit to transport her into\r\nthe Chamois, while yet overwhelmed by the announcement of my intention.\r\n\r\nQuitting her retreat, I apprised Jarl of my design; and then, no more\r\ndelay!\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS9RQ86TKSRCPV23G8NH","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM0FY6WE7MVDE2S1KJWE9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:23.033Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.742Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}