hild will show the Tetons that he is brave, by
striking their enemies. Men of the Dahcotahs, this is my son!"

The Pawnee hesitated a moment, and then stepping in front of the chief,
he took his hard and wrinkled hand, and laid it with reverence on his
head, as if to acknowledge the extent of his obligation. Then recoiling
a step, he raised his person to its greatest elevation, and looked upon
the hostile band, by whom he was environed, with an air of loftiness and
disdain, as he spoke aloud, in the language of the Siouxes--

"Hard-Heart has looked at himself, within and without. He has thought
of all he has done in the hunts and in the wars. Every where he is the
same. There is no change. He is in all things a Pawnee. He has struck
so many Tetons that he could never eat in their lodges. His arrows would
fly backwards; the point of his lance would be on the wrong end; their
friends would weep at every whoop he gave; their enemies would laugh. Do
the Tetons know a Loup? Let them look at him again. His head is painted;
his arm is flesh; his heart is rock. When the Tetons see the sun come
from the Rocky Mountains, and move towards the land of the Pale-faces,
the mind of Hard-Heart will soften, and his spirit will become Sioux.
Until that day, he will live and die a Pawnee."

A yell of delight, in which admiration and ferocity were strangely
mingled, interrupted the speaker, and but too clearly announced the
character of his fate. The captive awaited a moment, for the commotion
to subside, and then turning again to Le Balafre, he continued, in tones
conciliating and kind, as if he felt the propriety of softening his
refusal, in a manner not to wound the pride of one who would so gladly
be his benefactor--

"Let my father lean heavier on the fawn of the Dahcotahs," he said: "she
is weak now, but as her lodge fills with young, she will be stronger.
See," he added, directing the eyes of the other to the earnest
countenance of the attentive trapper; "Hard-Heart is not without a
grey-head to show him the path to the blessed prairies. If he ever has
another father, it shall be that just warrior."

Le Balafre turned away in disappointment from the youth, and approached
the stranger, who had thus anticipated his design. The examination
between these two aged men was long, mutual, and curious. It was not
easy to detect the real character of the trapper, through the mask which
the hardships of so many years had laid upon his feat