ly Teton, in a tone that he
intended should be conciliating.

"Do the leaves cover the trees in the season of fruits? Go. The
Dahcotahs have not seen as many warriors living as I have looked on
in their blood! But what signifies idle remembrancing," he added in
English, "when limbs grow stiff, and sight is failing!"

The chief regarded him a moment with a severe look, as if he would lay
bare the falsehood he had heard; but meeting in the calm eye and steady
mien of the trapper a confirmation of the truth of what he said, he took
the hand of the old man and laid it gently on his head, in token of the
respect that was due to the other's years and experience.

"Why then do the Big-knives tell their red brethren to bury the
tomahawk," he said, "when their own young men never forget that they are
braves, and meet each other so often with bloody hands?"

"My nation is more numerous than the buffaloes on the prairies, or the
pigeons in the air. Their quarrels are frequent; yet their warriors
are few. None go out on the war-path but they who are gifted with the
qualities of a brave, and therefore such see many battles."

"It is not so--my father is mistaken," returned Mahtoree, indulging in
a smile of exulting penetration, at the very instant he corrected the
force of his denial, in deference to the years and services of one so
aged. "The Big-knives are very wise, and they are men; all of them would
be warriors. They would leave the Red-skins to dig roots and hoe the
corn. But a Dahcotah is not born to live like a woman; he must strike
the Pawnee and the Omahaw, or he will lose the name of his fathers."

"The Master of Life looks with an open eye on his children, who die in
a battle that is fought for the right; but he is blind, and his ears are
shut to the cries of an Indian, who is killed when plundering, or doing
evil to his neighbour."

"My father is old," said Mahtoree, looking at his aged companion, with
an expression of irony, that sufficiently denoted he was one of those
who overstep the trammels of education, and who are perhaps a little
given to abuse the mental liberty they thus obtain. "He is very old: has
he made a journey to the far country; and has he been at the trouble to
come back, to tell the young men what he has seen?"

"Teton," returned the trapper, throwing the breach of his rifle to the
earth with startling vehemence, and regarding his companion with steady
serenity, "I have heard that there are