Forcing his way into the centre of the
hags, who were already proceeding from abuse to violence, he reproved
their impatience, and bade them wait, until a warrior had begun to
torment, and then they should see their victim shed tears like a
woman.
The heartless savage commenced his efforts, by flourishing his
tomahawk about the head of the captive, in such a manner as to give
reason to suppose, that each blow would bury the weapon in the flesh,
while it was so governed as not to touch the skin. To this customary
expedient Hard-Heart was perfectly insensible. His eye kept the same
steady, riveted look on the air, though the glittering axe described,
in its evolutions, a bright circle of light before his countenance.
Frustrated in this attempt, the callous Sioux laid the cold edge on
the naked head of his victim, and began to describe the different
manners, in which a prisoner might be flayed. The women kept time to
his cruelties with their taunts, and endeavoured to force some
expression of the lingerings of nature from the insensible features of
the Pawnee.
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