Mahtoree and his party slowly retired from the thicket, the moment
they caught a view of the strangers, until they halted on a swell that
commanded a wide and unobstructed view of the naked fields on which
they stood. Here the Dahcotah appeared disposed to make his stand, and
to bring matters to an issue. Notwithstanding this retreat, in which
he compelled the trapper to accompany him, Middleton still advanced,
until he too halted on the same elevation, and within speaking
distance of the warlike Siouxes. The borderers in their turn took a
favourable position, though at a much greater distance. The three
groups now resembled so many fleets at sea, lying with their topsails
to the masts, with the commendable precaution of reconnoitring, before
each could ascertain who among the strangers might be considered as
friends, and who as foes.
During this moment of suspense, the dark, threatening, eye of Mahtoree
rolled from one of the strange parties to the other, in keen and hasty
examination, and then it turned its withering look on the old man, as
the chief said, in a tone of high and bitter scorn--
"The Big-knives are fools! It is easier to catch the cougar asleep,
than to find a blind Dahcotah.
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