He rode to and fro among
his scarcely less delighted warriors, managing the animal with a grace
and address that no artificial rules can ever supply; at times
flourishing his lance, as if to assure himself of his seat, and at
others examining critically into the condition of the fusee, with
which he had also been furnished, with the fondness of one, who was
miraculously restored to the possession of treasures, that constituted
his pride and his happiness.
At this particular moment Mahtoree, having completed the necessary
arrangements, prepared to make a more decisive movement. The Teton had
found no little embarrassment in disposing of his captives. The tents
of the squatter were still in sight, and his wary cunning did not fail
to apprise him, that it was quite as necessary to guard against an
attack from that quarter as to watch the motions of his more open and
more active foes. His first impulse had been to make the tomahawk
suffice for the men, and to trust the females under the same
protection as the women of his band; but the manner, in which many of
his braves continued to regard the imaginary medicine of the Long-
knives, forewarned him of the danger of so hazardous an experiment on
the eve of a battle.
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