s attack on an enemy who expects him; and if the warriors
of the Tetons meditated any hostility, it was in the still and patient
manner with which the feline beasts watch for the incautious moment, in
order to ensure the blow. The counsels of Mahtoree, however, on whom so
much of the policy of his people depended, lay deep in the depository of
his own thoughts. Perhaps he rejoiced at so easy a manner of getting rid
of claims so troublesome; perhaps he awaited a fitting time to exhibit
his power; or it even might be, that matters of so much greater
importance were pressing on his mind, that it had not leisure to devote
any of its faculties to an event of so much indifference.

But it would seem that while Ishmael made such a concession to the
awakened feelings of Esther, he was far from abandoning his original
intentions. His train followed the course of the river for a mile, and
then it came to a halt on the brow of the elevated land, and in a place
which afforded the necessary facilities. Here he again pitched his
tents, unharnessed his teams, sent his cattle on the bottom, and, in
short, made all the customary preparations to pass the night, with the
same coolness and deliberation as if he had not hurled an irritating
defiance into the teeth of his dangerous neighbours.

In the mean time the Tetons proceeded to the more regular business of
the hour. A fierce and savage joy had existed in the camp, from the
instant when it had been announced that their own chief was returning
with the long-dreaded and hated partisan of their enemies. For many
hours the crones of the tribe had been going from lodge to lodge, in
order to stimulate the tempers of the warriors to such a pass, as might
leave but little room for mercy. To one they spoke of a son, whose scalp
was drying in the smoke of a Pawnee lodge. To another, they enumerated
his own scars, his disgraces, and defeats; with a third, they dwelt on
his losses of skins and horses; and a fourth was reminded of vengeance
by a significant question, concerning some flagrant adventure, in which
he was known to have been a sufferer.

By these means the men had been so far excited as to have assembled, in
the manner already related, though it still remained a matter of doubt
how far they intended to carry their revenge. A variety of opinions
prevailed on the policy of executing their prisoners; and Mahtoree had
suspended the discussions, in order to ascertain how far the measure
mi