Pawnee, I love you; but being a Christian man, I
cannot be the runner to bear such a message."
"If my father is afraid the Tetons will hear him, let him whisper it
softly to our old men."
"As for fear, young warrior, it is no more the shame of a Pale-face
than of a Red-skin. The Wahcondah teaches us to love the life he
gives; but it is as men love their hunts, and their dogs, and their
carabines, and not with the doting that a mother looks upon her
infant. The Master of Life will not have to speak aloud twice when he
calls my name. I am as ready to answer to it now, as I shall be
to-morrow, or at any time it may please his mighty will. But what is a
warrior without his traditions? Mine forbid me to carry your words."
The chief made a dignified motion of assent, and here there was great
danger that those feelings of confidence, which had been so singularly
awakened, would as suddenly subside. But the heart of the old man had
been too sensibly touched, through long dormant but still living
recollections, to break off the communication so rudely.
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