The subordinates, however, obeyed, and Obed
was led forth from the lodge, mounted on Asinus, with a ceremony and
state which was certainly intended for derision, but which
nevertheless was greatly enhanced by fear. As they entered the ring,
Mahtoree, who had foreseen and had endeavoured to anticipate the
influence of the Doctor, by bringing him into contempt, cast an eye
around the assembly, in order to gather his success in the various
dark visages by which he was encircled.
Truly, nature and art had combined to produce such an effect from the
air and appointments of the naturalist, as might have made him the
subject of wonder in any place. His head had been industriously
shaved, after the most approved fashion of Sioux taste. A gallant
scalp-lock, which would probably not have been spared had the Doctor
himself been consulted in the matter, was all that remained of an
exuberant, and at that particular season of the year, far from
uncomfortable head of hair. Thick coats of paint had been laid on the
naked poll, and certain fanciful designs, in the same material, had
even been extended into the neighbourhood of the eyes and mouth,
lending to the keen expression of the former a look of twinkling
cunning, and to the dogmatism of the latter, not a little of the
grimness of necromancy.
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