Still, accident had interfered
to defeat the last intention, for when the young man put his foot
on the point, and advanced with a steady tread towards the group of
chiefs that was seated in grave array on a fallen tree, the oldest
of their number cast his eye upward, at an opening in the trees,
and pointed out to his companions the startling fact that the sun
was just entering a space that was known to mark the zenith. A
common, but low exclamation of surprise and admiration escaped every
mouth, and the grim warriors looked at each other, some with envy
and disappointment, some with astonishment at the precise accuracy
of their victim, and others with a more generous and liberal feeling.
The American Indian always deemed his moral victories the noblest,
prizing the groans and yielding of his victim under torture, more
than the trophy of his scalp; and the trophy itself more than his
life. To slay, and not to bring off the proof of victory, indeed,
was scarcely deemed honorable, even these rude and fierce tenants
of the forest, like their more nurtured brethren of the court and
the camp, having set up for themselves imaginary and arbitrary
points of honor, to supplant the conclusions of the right and the
decisions of reason.
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