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Show • ( 24 ) overy traitor ou~ht to be killed like a rattle-snake; I know thtat t1a 'Vinneb:1p;ocs and the Sioux have been t r?itors to you, and that they ;t ,·c wor:'e tlt:ln th~ ratt.le-sn:-tl{('S. Now, ltst.en to me. I am no mon: a ~ · ioux : my people have acted worse to me th~n they ever did to yo t , :wd l have l l ft them, never to j oin them agam. Adopt n:1c as your i>l'othc·r. Give me an opportun ity of proving to you my fa1thfulnes.:. I ha\'(.! spoken.' . '·' 01tr common co11nci] caJi alone rler.idc upon your fate,' n·plt t 'l the old chic!'. 'I will neit her warr:1nt for your vcrDrit.y, because yo ·1 nre .-till a Sioux by arpcarancc; nor will I doubt of it, hecau ·e )' 1Ht lonl· honef't. I n · the mean while, t ill the decision of our common t'ulltleil, you are a prisoner among us, and must submit to the usu :d I real tnl~nt ot such.' •'l wa:< pinioncd,anrl lcd throll!!,h the village like a rulprif,~tHToundr~d hy a h11dy of ..,,·arriors, and followed by a crowd of women ::~n I rh il ·· drr11, lwotin~ nft cr me, ' Sioux! Traitor! Kill him!' and throwi n .~: ~totws ~~ L rm·. In that. hour of undeserved lwmiliat.ion, I thought ot yot·ll' ~l'<:! at prophet, Je:-;us Christ, vvhose sufl'erin~s I bad learnt wltt'n l w; :s a boy, from an old Htrron, who lived and died in our vilbgp, to ,,.,·holll they had been rebtccl, in his childhood, by a pious Moravian . 'J i~sion3ry, of Bethlehem, in Penn~ylvani:J. c: My prison wns a l ar~c, miserable, dcc:Jying lodge, p::dis:1cl<·d, nnd rout inually w<1 tch ed by three w:uri orl', who ne\·cr· ~lllswrred to niy fn.:q1r ent inquiries for the decision of my fate. II nv r.an I gi\'e yo 11 :111 rd ea of my fl)-!;011}' 1 when I thought of my dctlr \\'ife and child? \Vh:1t would he('ome of thrm . i !' I cot!ld not. return before the SIJO\V fell? :md wint.vr wa:=; rornin~ nrarer every day, while 1 had no other lli'Ospect of a rrseue from my pri son b11t a pri::;oner's de:.~th; for, if nty jai lers wou ld not kill me, why did they i<cep me so 1on~ in cxcruci: tlinl-!; suspemc, which \vas much '"'orse than death itself'? '' l\Iy pinion~, the hi~h p~dis<tdcs around my prison, and my eon. · t:Jnt three watchers, reminded me :Jt every moment of the impo'·sihility of eRcapc, a11d a fit of madness carne over me, ''vhen l saw ::1 nd felt the first l~dl of snow. I ~roanrd with des! :1ir; and my silcr tl watchers exehangct.l ~i~n i ficClnl looks with each othe r, as il' they \1 :1 - derstoocl my fury, "'h ieh they asrribed to a mere fe eling of re vcn ~, ~ at my long captivity; they showed me their tomphawk::;, as if the:->e were the only means to stop my ~roans, and to cheek my furv . _\ hundred times, I had repea tedly to ld my story, but w i ll~ou t. n1;y su ccess ; .for none of ~y watche rs had once retu rned, so ~h a t I Rupposed , at lenp;th, all the Sacs nnd Foxes would come succE'SSive ly fo r wat ch in~ me till my death , af'tcr the last one of them ~ h ou l d h:tve hnd 11: \l turn, t.o see and watch a capti ve, su ffe r ing Sioux, doomed to d ie ns .t vic t im of t heir vengeance. "W ir~ter p~s ec~ and spr ing came, whila no chnnge took place ;n my terri ble sttua tt on : my del'pa ir had alrcacly become permanent, and would h:lVe turned to iodi ffe rence, if it had r.o t been kept up l>y every th oug;ht of my poor Di 01·a, and ou r dear child . . "Six frill moons had now fill ed th e cup of my sufferinp,;s to the br1m. I had a thou sand tim es invoked, all in vai n, the Great Spirit 0 '1j tn > 0 ...... z tj ...... > z rn • |
