| OCR Text |
Show 270 THE LILY AND THE TOTEM. more, my brother, I implore thee to give us of thy abundance, and we \-rill cheerfully impart to thee from our store of knives, reap-hooks, hatchets, mirrors, and lo;cly beads, such as will del ight thy women. Here, bclwld,-this is some of the trca.sure which I have brought thee for the purposes of barter." The lordly ch ieftain deigned not a single glance to the European wnrcs, which, at a word from Laudonuiere, one of the French soldiers laid at his feet. The French captain, as if loth to proceed to extremities, continued to entreat; while C\'cry new appeal was only answered, on the part of the savage prince, with a new speech of scorn, and new gestures of contempt. At leugth, Laudonnicre's patience was exhausted, and he gave the signal which had been agreed upon with his lieutenant. In the next moment, the quick grasp of Alpl10nsc D'Erlaeh was laid upon the Paraeoussi's shoulders. J Io attempted to rise, and to grasp, at the same time, the maeana wl1ieh lay at his feet. But D 'Er~ laeh kept him down with his hands, wllilo his foot was struck down upon the mneana. In that moment, the war-conch was sounded at the entrance by several Indians who had been in wait.~ ing. It was caught up and echoed by the bugles of ])'£rlach; the blast of which had scarcely been heard throughout the '' illagc, before it hn.J been replied to, four several times, from as many different points where the French force had been sb.tioned, ten soldiers in each. Ono desperate personal struggle which the Paraeoussi made, proved fmitlcss to extricate him from the grasp of his captor; nnd he then 11at quietly, without a word, coldly lookiug his enemies in the face. OF TilE GREAT PARACOUSSI. 271 TnE capti,·e ParacouBi lost none of i1is dign ity iu his captivity. lie scorned entreaty. He betrayed no symptom of fear. Tln~ot he fel~ the disgrace which had heeu put upon him, wa.s cvi~ dent in the close compre1~sion of his lips; bu~ he was sustained by tlw score~ conviction that his waniors were gatlwriug, and that they would rescue him from his captors by tho overwhelming force of their numbers. At first l1is stoicism wa.s sh:ll'ed by his family and attendants; but when Laudonnierc ~ eelarcd his purpose to remove his prisoner to the boats, then the clamors of women, not less eloquent in the wigwam of the savage, than in the household of the pale faces, became equally wild and general. The Paracoussi had but one wife, foregoing, in this respect, some of his princely pri\·il cges, to wbieh the customs of the red~ men afforded a suffici<!nt sanct ion. llut there w01·o many females in the royal d1volling, all of whom echoed the tumultuous cries of of iL-. mistress. Thi ~ devoted woman, with her attendants, accompanied the captive to the boats, whore, following the precautions adopted by D'Edach, the l?renchmen arrived in safety. The warriors of the rod-men had not yet time to gather and army themselves. LauJon nicre gave the women and immediate companions of the Paracoussi to understand that his purpose was not to do his captive any injury. The French were hungry and mu:.t hav<:l food. \\'heu a sufficient sapply was brought them, Olata Utina should be set free. But these assurances they did not believe. They themselves, EclJom set fre:l their eapti\·es. Ordinarily, they sle\'1" all their male prisoners taken by surprise or in war, .reserving tho young females only. They naturally supposed, that what was the |
