[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
up" with. A different story was told at Guildford, and Stony Point,
and Eutaw, and Bennington, and Bemis' Heights, and fifty other
places that might be named, after the troops were furnished with
bayonets. THEN it was found that the Americans could use them as
well as others, and so might it have proved with the red men, though
their discipline, or mode of fighting, scarce admitted of such
systematic charges. All this, however, the corporal overlooked, much
as if he were a regular historian who was writing to make out a
case.
"Harkee, brother, since you WILL call me brother; though, Heaven be
praised, not a drop of nigger or Injin blood runs in my veins,"
resumed the corporal. "Harkee, friend redskin, answer me one thing.
Did you ever hear of such a man as Mad Anthony? He was the tickler
for your infernal tribes! You pulled no saplings together for him.
He put you up with 'the long-knives and leather-stockings,' and you
outrun his fleetest horses. I was with him, and saw more naked backs
than naked faces among your people, that day. Your Great Bear got a
rap on his nose that sent him to his village yelping like a cur."
Again was the corporal compelled to stop to take breath. The
allusion to Wayne, and his defeat of the Indians, excited so much
ire, that several hands grasped knives and tomahawks, and one arrow
was actually drawn nearly to the head; but the frown of Bear's Meat
prevented any outbreak, or actual violence. It wa's deemed prudent,
however, to put an end to this scene, lest the straightforward
corporal, who laid it on heavily, and who had so much to say about
Indian defeats, might actually succeed in touching some festering
wound that would bring him to his death at once. It was,
accordingly, determined to proceed with the torture of the saplings
Page 247
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
without further delay.
The corporal was removed accordingly, and placed between the two
bended trees, which were kept together by withes around their tops.
An arm of the captive was bound tightly at the wrist to the top of
each tree, so that his limbs were to act as the only tie between the
saplings, as soon as the withes should be cut. The Indians now
worked in silence, and the matter was getting to be much too serious
for the corporal to indulge in any more words. The cold sweat
returned, and many an anxious glance was cast by the veteran on the
fell preparations. Still he maintained appearances, and when all was
ready, not a man there was aware of the agony of dread which
prevailed in the breast of the victim. It was not death that he
feared as much as suffering. A few minutes, the corporal well knew,
would make the pain intolerable, while he saw no hope of putting a
speedy end to his existence. A man might live hours in such a
situation. Then it was that the teachings of childhood were revived
in the bosom of this hardened man, and he remembered the Being that
died for HIM, in common with the rest of the human race, on the
tree. The seeming similarity of his own execution struck his
imagination, and brought a tardy but faint recollection of those
lessons that had lost most of their efficacy in the wickedness and
impiety of camps. His soul struggled for relief in that direction,
but the present scene was too absorbing to admit of its lifting
itself so far above his humanity.
"Warrior of the pale-faces," said Bough of the Oak, "we are going to
cut the withe. You will then be where a brave man will want all his
courage. If you are firm, we will do you honor; if you faint and
screech, our young men will laugh at you. This is the way with
Injins. They honor braves; they point the finger at cowards."
Here a sign was made by Bear's Meat, and a warrior raised the
tomahawk that was to separate the fastenings, His hand was in the
very act of descending, when the crack of a rifle was heard, and a
little smoke rose out of the thicket, near the spot where the bee-
hunter and the corporal, himself, had remained so long hid, on the
occasion of the council first held in that place. The tomahawk fell,
however, the withes were parted, and up flew the saplings, with a
violence that threatened to tear the arms of the victim out of their
sockets.
The Indians listened, expecting the screeches and groans;--they [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
up" with. A different story was told at Guildford, and Stony Point,
and Eutaw, and Bennington, and Bemis' Heights, and fifty other
places that might be named, after the troops were furnished with
bayonets. THEN it was found that the Americans could use them as
well as others, and so might it have proved with the red men, though
their discipline, or mode of fighting, scarce admitted of such
systematic charges. All this, however, the corporal overlooked, much
as if he were a regular historian who was writing to make out a
case.
"Harkee, brother, since you WILL call me brother; though, Heaven be
praised, not a drop of nigger or Injin blood runs in my veins,"
resumed the corporal. "Harkee, friend redskin, answer me one thing.
Did you ever hear of such a man as Mad Anthony? He was the tickler
for your infernal tribes! You pulled no saplings together for him.
He put you up with 'the long-knives and leather-stockings,' and you
outrun his fleetest horses. I was with him, and saw more naked backs
than naked faces among your people, that day. Your Great Bear got a
rap on his nose that sent him to his village yelping like a cur."
Again was the corporal compelled to stop to take breath. The
allusion to Wayne, and his defeat of the Indians, excited so much
ire, that several hands grasped knives and tomahawks, and one arrow
was actually drawn nearly to the head; but the frown of Bear's Meat
prevented any outbreak, or actual violence. It wa's deemed prudent,
however, to put an end to this scene, lest the straightforward
corporal, who laid it on heavily, and who had so much to say about
Indian defeats, might actually succeed in touching some festering
wound that would bring him to his death at once. It was,
accordingly, determined to proceed with the torture of the saplings
Page 247
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
without further delay.
The corporal was removed accordingly, and placed between the two
bended trees, which were kept together by withes around their tops.
An arm of the captive was bound tightly at the wrist to the top of
each tree, so that his limbs were to act as the only tie between the
saplings, as soon as the withes should be cut. The Indians now
worked in silence, and the matter was getting to be much too serious
for the corporal to indulge in any more words. The cold sweat
returned, and many an anxious glance was cast by the veteran on the
fell preparations. Still he maintained appearances, and when all was
ready, not a man there was aware of the agony of dread which
prevailed in the breast of the victim. It was not death that he
feared as much as suffering. A few minutes, the corporal well knew,
would make the pain intolerable, while he saw no hope of putting a
speedy end to his existence. A man might live hours in such a
situation. Then it was that the teachings of childhood were revived
in the bosom of this hardened man, and he remembered the Being that
died for HIM, in common with the rest of the human race, on the
tree. The seeming similarity of his own execution struck his
imagination, and brought a tardy but faint recollection of those
lessons that had lost most of their efficacy in the wickedness and
impiety of camps. His soul struggled for relief in that direction,
but the present scene was too absorbing to admit of its lifting
itself so far above his humanity.
"Warrior of the pale-faces," said Bough of the Oak, "we are going to
cut the withe. You will then be where a brave man will want all his
courage. If you are firm, we will do you honor; if you faint and
screech, our young men will laugh at you. This is the way with
Injins. They honor braves; they point the finger at cowards."
Here a sign was made by Bear's Meat, and a warrior raised the
tomahawk that was to separate the fastenings, His hand was in the
very act of descending, when the crack of a rifle was heard, and a
little smoke rose out of the thicket, near the spot where the bee-
hunter and the corporal, himself, had remained so long hid, on the
occasion of the council first held in that place. The tomahawk fell,
however, the withes were parted, and up flew the saplings, with a
violence that threatened to tear the arms of the victim out of their
sockets.
The Indians listened, expecting the screeches and groans;--they [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]