The Prairie

uch mor

, than those tha

ant of

he Siouxes had been turned against their neighbours of the prairies, and even at this day, when the influence and authority of a civilised government are beginning to be felt around them, they are consid

he rude and violent manner in which his conquerors performed the customary office, he even anticipated their cupidity, by tendering to the chiefs such articles as he thought might prove the most acceptable. On the other hand Paul Hover, who had been literally a conquered man, manifested the strongest repugnance to submit to the violent liberties that were taken with his person and property. He even g

alue, than they appeared disposed to grant them a respite. Business of greater moment pressed on their hands, and required their attention. Another consultation of the c

the travellers who lie near the willow brake are not awoke out of their sleep by a visit from these miscreants. They are too cunning to beli

Mountains," said the young bee-hunter, laughing in his vexatio

in a tone of reproach, "you forget all

onder red-devil, and making it a real knock-down and drag-out! Old trapper, the sin of this cowardly business lies

Paul, to be calm

llow his spleen, "I will make the trial; though, as you ought to know, it is

er, as coolly as though he had not heard a syllable of the intervening discourse. "They scent plund

Ellen, in an imploring manner, whic

el dream that the wolves were among his flock," Paul replied; "I can make myself

urned the trapper. "No, no; cunning must match cu

s having a look at the other sea, but the old fellow is in a bad condition to tak

umber, and well armed; do

ee shotgun. There is as much of the true stand-up courage among them, as there is in any family that was ever raised in Kentuck, itself. They are a

to set their accursed devices in motion. Let us be pati

r, if you have the smallest regard for my affection! Wha

in," returned the other, a little drily-"but no

ating tones: "we should be all of a family, when it is in our power to serve each other. We depend ent

he bee-hunter, laughing, "if the boys get at

soon blended with the brown covering of the prairie; though the captives, who watched the slightest movement of their enemies with vigilant eyes, were now and then enabled to discern a human figure, drawn against the horizon, as some one, more eager than the rest, rose to his greatest height in order to extend the limits of his view. But it was not long before even these fugitive glimpses of the moving, and constantly increasing circle, were lost, and uncertainty and conjecture were added to

I should say it would be wise to choose one among us to hold the discourse, in order that our testimony may agree. And furthermore, if an opinion from one as old and as worthless as a hunter of fourscore, is to be regar

nted bee-hunter. "You are good at buzzing, o

as like your own, too swift and too hot to run quietly in my veins. But what will it profit to talk of silly risks

have other things to attend to now! Her

as the dim light permitted, for more than a minute in perfect stillness, he gave the usual salutation in the harsh and guttural tones of his own language. The trapper replied as well as he could, which it seems w

s," continued the savage, allowing the usual moment of decorum to elapse, after the words of

rned the trapper; "but none will follow, if they hea

he snow; why do we talk of a people who are so

s of this land, then white an

ed men, that you come so far to carry a lie? I ha

olness; "I do not speak as I might-it is better to be silent. The Pawnees and the whi

the character he had assumed, and using the appellation of which his nation was most proud; "

ls, and have heard the words of wise men. Let yo

of offended dignity. "Do you take me for an Assiniboin

rapper, with a steadiness that did great credit to his nerve

ating what fiction he should next invent, in order to obtain his real object, when a slight commotion among the band put an end at once to all his sc

ves, and he will sing your name in th

ith strong disgust. "Your young men are speaking

templated against a fair division of the spoils, from the man named by the trapper, whom he now also knew to be approaching, by the manner in which his name passed from one to another, in the band. He had hardly disappeared before a warrior of powerful frame advanced

at true dignity which his counterfeit had so miserably affected; "w

rned the trapper; "and they have come to see if it be true. Some want, in their turns, what the

s the big river

e were tired, and they have lightened us of our load.

airies. Show my young men the place, that the

with perfect composure. "Bid your warriors go over yonder hill; there is water and there is wood;

ficiently wary in proposing a measure that he intended should notify the travellers in the brake of the presence of their dangerous neighbours. Mahtoree, however, wi

has many warriors not far off, and that horses ar

warriors, an

he prairies, and not fall! I know the red men of the woods make long marches on foot,

its and character, he was strongly troubled with an unaccommodating regard for the truth. But, recollecting that he controlled the fate of o

evasively. "Would a Teton warrior make his wife greater than himself? I know he would no

as not received without surprise, if entirely without distrust. The chief alone seemed

others towards the rising sun are not men; and now I know they did not lie! Go-what i

he Dahcotahs lived there, and she wished to look on men. The women of the pale-faces, like the women of the Siouxes, open their eyes to see things

n that it startled even his red auditors. "Am I a woman? Has not a Dahcotah eyes? Tel

this man had effected a discovery, which had eluded the search of the rest of his party. Notwithstanding his regret at an event that might prove fatal to the sleepe

osity of the Tetons, I cannot tell. If there be strangers asleep, send your young men to wake them up, and let them say why they are here; every pa

angers, that they may rise and speak to him with their carabines. He will whisper softly

n. Weucha profited by the occasion to renew his importunities; but the trapper, who had discovered how great a counterfeit he was, shook him off in displeasure. An end was, however, more effectually put to the annoyance of this malignant savage, by a mandate for the whole party, including men and beasts, to change their

grave and deliberativ

own person, and, as it appeared by the air of triumph and authority he assumed, at the head of the guard also. The savage, however, who doubtless had his secret instructions, was content, for the present, with making a significant gesture with his tomahawk, which menaced death to Ellen. After admonishing in this expressive manner his male captives of the fate that wou

h which an Indian warrior is wont to submit to the instructions of his chief, in moments of trial. Some he despatched to the right, and others to the left. Each man departed with the noiseless and quick step peculiar to the race, until all had assumed their allotted stations, with t

ooking statue, in the attitude, and nearly in the garb, of nature. Mahtoree assured himself of the right position of his tomahawk, felt that his knife was secure in its sheath of skin, tightened his girdle of wampum and saw t

y forms were nearly lost to the eyes of the prisoners. Here they paused, looking around them like men who deliberate and ponder

d though whispered remonstrances of Paul Hover. In the breast of the young bee-hunter himself, there was a singular union of emotions. His first and chiefest solicitude was certainly in behalf of his gentle and dependent companion; but the sense of her danger was mingled, in the breast of the reckless woodsman, with a consciousness of a high and wild, and by no means an unpleasant, excitement. Though united to the emigrants by ties still less binding than those of Ellen, he longed to hear the crack of their rifles, and, had occasion offered, he would gladly have been among the first to rush to their rescue. There were, in truth, moments when

n extraordinary caution became necessary to their further advance. Mahtoree, alone, had occasionally elevated his dark, grim countenance above the herbage, straining his eye-balls to penetrate the gloom which skirted the border of the brake. In these mo

ess of the camp, which lay in a quiet as deep as if it were literally a place of the dead. Too wary and distrustful to rely, in circumstances of so much d

He drew his form, foot by foot, through the bending grass, pausing at each movement to catch the smallest sound that might betray any knowledge, on the part of the travellers, of his proximity. He succeeded, at length, in dragging him

te of the force he was about to encounter. Still an unnatural silence pervaded the spot, as if men suppressed even the quiet breathings of sleep, in order to render the appearance of their confidence more evident. The chief bent his head to the earth, and listened intently. He was about to raise it again, in

e hardy and powerful white adventurers, who so often penetrated the wilds inhabited by his people, was well known to him; but while he drew nigher, with the resp

is seat, and took a better survey of his situation. A single moment served to apprise him of the place where the unsuspecting traveller lay. The reader will readily anticipate

ot only of the condition but of the character of the stranger, Mahtoree was in the act of withdrawing his head, when a slight movement of the sleeper announced the symptoms of reviving consciousness. The savage seized the knife which hung at his girdle, and in an instant it was poised above

ch every where rose before his drowsy eyes, he changed his position so as completely to turn his back on his dangerous neighbour, and suffered his person to sink sluggishly down into its former recumbent attitude. A long, and, on the part of the Teton, an anxious and painful silence succeeded, before the deep breathing of the traveller again announced that he was indulging in his slumbers. The savage was, however, far too jealous of a counterfeit to trust to the first appearance of sleep. But the fat

n the breast of a savage, he coolly prepared to extinguish the principle of vitality which could alone render them formidable. After making himself sure of the seat of life, by gently removing the folds of the intervenin

robably relinquish its hold of life, suggested themselves to his rapid thoughts, and were all present to his experienced senses. He looked back into the encampment, turned his head into the thicket, and glanced his glowing eyes abroa

painful intensity, in order to gather counsel from his ears, the savage ventured to raise the cloth at the bottom, and to thrust his dark visage beneath. It might have been a minute before the Teton chief drew back, and seated himself with the whole of his form without the linen tenement. Here he sat, seemingly brooding over his discovery, for many mo

He made another pause, and looked back at the solitary little dwelling he had left, as if doubtful whether he should not return. But the chevaux-de-frise of branches now lay wit

at. Then raising himself on his feet, he stalked through the encampment, like the master of evil, seeking whom and what he should first devote to his fell purposes. He had already ascertained the contents of the lodge in which were collected the woman and her young children, and had passed several gigantic frames, stretched on different piles of brush, which happily for him lay in unconscious he

of the readiness and cunning of a savage could have evaded the crisis. Imitating the gruff tones and nearly unintelligible sounds he heard, Mahtoree threw his body heavily on the earth, and appeared to dispose himself to sleep. Though the who

was not idle. He profited by the delay to mature a plan which he intended should put the whole encampment, including both its effects and their proprietors, entirely at his mercy. The instant he could do so

ndering Teton passed over the downy coat, the meek countenance, and the slender limbs of the gentle creature, with untiring curiosity; but he finally abandoned the prize, as useless in his predatory expeditions, and offering too little temptation to the appetite. As soon, however, as he found himself among the beasts of burden, his gratification was extreme,