I say, honest friend, since you have
done so much, have the goodness to keep these damnable squaws, of whom
you say so many interesting things, at a little distance, till I have
got the blood of this arm in motion, and am ready to receive them."
The trapper made a sign that he perfectly understood the case; and he
walked towards the superannuated savage, who began to manifest an
intention of commencing his assigned task, leaving the bee-hunter to
recover the use of his limbs as well as he could, and to put Middleton
in a similar situation to defend himself.
Mahtoree had not mistaken his man, in selecting the one he did to
execute his bloody purpose. He had chosen one of those ruthless
savages, more or less of whom are to be found in every tribe, who had
purchased a certain share of military reputation, by the exhibition of
a hardihood that found its impulses in an innate love of cruelty.
Contrary to the high and chivalrous sentiment, which among the Indians
of the prairies renders it a deed of even greater merit to bear off
the trophy of victory from a fallen foe, than to slay him, he had been
remarkable for preferring the pleasure of destroying life, to the
glory of striking the dead.
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