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
fatigues of a day of unusual toil lay too heavy on the sentinel to
leave the other long in doubt. Still the motion with which Mahtoree
again raised himself to his knees was so noiseless and guarded, that
even a vigilant observer might have hesitated to believe he stirred.
The change was, however, at length effected, and the Dahcotah chief
then bent again over his enemy, without having produced a noise louder
than that of the cotton-wood leaf which fluttered at his side in the
currents of the passing air.
Mahtoree now felt himself master of the sleeper's fate. At the same
time that he scanned the vast proportions and athletic limbs of the
youth, in that sort of admiration which physical excellence seldom
fails to excite in the breast of a savage, he coolly prepared to
extinguish the principle of vitality which could alone render them
formidable.
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