A place was reserved for three or four of
the principal chiefs, and a few of the oldest of the women, as
withered, as age, exposure, hardships, and lives of savage passions
could make them, thrust themselves into the foremost circle, with a
temerity, to which they were impelled by their insatiable desire for
cruelty, and which nothing, but their years and their long tried
fidelity to the nation, would have excused.
All, but the chiefs already named, were now in their places. These had
delayed their appearance, in the vain hope that their own unanimity
might smooth the way to that of their respective factions; for,
notwithstanding the superior influence of Mahtoree, his power was to
be maintained only by constant appeals to the opinions of his
inferiors. As these important personages at length entered the circle
in a body, their sullen looks and clouded brows, notwithstanding the
time given to consultation, sufficiently proclaimed the discontent
which reigned among them. The eye of Mahtoree was varying in its
expression, from sudden gleams, that seemed to kindle with the burning
impulses of his soul, to that cold and guarded steadiness, which was
thought more peculiarly to become a chief in council.
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