end and subject, and to lose no time in banishing
from his favor and presence one who showed himself unworthy of all the
benefits he had heaped upon him, and who employed the life that had
been so unduly spared in perverting the mind of his benefactor's only
child. In vain his eloquence--in vain his wrath. Tisquantum regarded
him calmly until he had exhausted his torrent of passionate
expostulations, and then, quietly removing the pipe from his lips, he
replied, with his and decision--

'My brother is angry. His zeal for the honor of Mahneto has made him
forget his respect for the Sachem and the Sachem's adopted son. The
life of the white stranger was spared that he might bring joy to the
mournful eyes of Oriana. He has done so. My daughter smiles again, and
it is well. Coubitant may go.'

He then resumed his pipe, and, closing his eyes again, gave himself up
to the drowsy contemplations, which the entrance of Coubitant had
interrupted; and the disappointed warrior retired with a scowl on his
dark brow, and aggravated malice in his still darker heart.

CHAPTER VIII.

'They proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord'
JER. IX, 3.

The indifference of Tisquantum on the subject of the religious opinions
that his daughter might imbibe from her Christian companion, may seem
strange. But the Sachem, though a heathen, was, in fact, no fanatic. He
believed--or professed to believe--that he was himself in the
possession of supernatural powers; and so long as these pretensions
were acknowledged, and he continued to enjoy the confidence and
veneration of his ignorant countrymen, he was perfectly satisfied.
Henrich had also, on their first acquaintance, distinctly professed his
faith in the existence and the power of the Great Mahneto, or _Master
of Life;_ and this was all the _religion_--properly so called--of which
Tisquantum had any idea. He did not, therefore, give himself any
concern as to the other objects of his adopted son's belief or worship;
neither did he care to prevent Oriana from listening to the doctrines
of the pale-face, so long as she continued obedient and gentle, and
neglected none of the duties of an Indian squaw.

The feelings of Coubitant were different. Not only did he burn with an
eager desire to deprive his rival of the Sachem's love and esteem, but
he also entertained a strong abhorrence of the religion of the white
men, as he had seen it practiced, and knew it was dissem