"And they find them many. Too many for the safety of its owner, while
he is in their revengeful hands. My son is not a woman, and he looks
on the path he is about to travel with a steady eye. Has he nothing to
whisper in the ears of his people, before he starts? These legs are
old, but they may yet carry me to the forks of the Loup river."
"Tell them that Hard-Heart has tied a knot in his wampum for every
Teton," burst from the lips of the captive, with that vehemence with
which sudden passion is known to break through the barriers of
artificial restraint "if he meets one of them all, in the prairies of
the Master of Life, his heart will become Sioux!"
"Ah that feeling would be a dangerous companion for a man with white
gifts to start with on so solemn a journey," muttered the old man in
English. "This is not what the good Moravians said to the councils of
the Delawares, nor what is so often preached, to the White-skins in
the settlements, though, to the shame of the colour be it said, it is
so little heeded.
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