d forward at the signal like a
blood-hound loosened from the leash. Forcing his way into the centre
of the hags, who were already proceeding from abuse to violence, he
reproved their impatience, and bade them wait, until a warrior had begun
to torment, and then they should see their victim shed tears like a
woman.

The heartless savage commenced his efforts, by flourishing his tomahawk
about the head of the captive, in such a manner as to give reason to
suppose, that each blow would bury the weapon in the flesh, while it
was so governed as not to touch the skin. To this customary expedient
Hard-Heart was perfectly insensible. His eye kept the same steady,
riveted look on the air, though the glittering axe described, in its
evolutions, a bright circle of light before his countenance. Frustrated
in this attempt, the callous Sioux laid the cold edge on the naked head
of his victim, and began to describe the different manners, in which
a prisoner might be flayed. The women kept time to his cruelties with
their taunts, and endeavoured to force some expression of the lingerings
of nature from the insensible features of the Pawnee. But he evidently
reserved himself for the chiefs, and for those moments of extreme
anguish, when the loftiness of his spirit might evince itself in a
manner better becoming his high and untarnished reputation.

The eyes of the trapper, followed every movement of the tomahawk, with
the interest of a real father, until at length, unable to command his
indignation, he exclaimed--

"My son has forgotten his cunning. This is a low-minded Indian, and
one easily hurried into folly. I cannot do the thing myself, for my
traditions forbid a dying warrior to revile his persecutors, but the
gifts of a Red-skin are different. Let the Pawnee say the bitter words
and purchase an easy death. I will answer for his success, provided he
speaks before the grave men set their wisdom to back the folly of this
fool."

The savage Sioux, who heard his words without comprehending their
meaning, turned to the speaker and menaced him with death, for his
temerity.

"Ay, work your will," said the unflinching old man; "I am as ready now
as I shall be to-morrow. Though it would be a death that an honest man
might not wish to die. Look at that noble Pawnee, Teton, and see what a
Red-skin may become, who fears the Master of Life, and follows his
laws. How many of your people has he sent to the distant prairies?"
he continued