But something more remained yet to be done. Taking the white stone pipe
which he had carved for Shekee-thepatee and filling its virgin bowl with
tobacco, Kumshakah lighted it, and slowly, with great solemnity, drew a
few whiffs therefrom, then offered it to Mish-mugwa. This the young
Indian did in token of his earnest wish that the peace and friendship
now existing between them should endure from that day forth, let come
what might, and that the sentiment, thus consecrated, should be
cherished as in some sort a solemn and religious duty. Poor Burl did not
know that Indians had any ceremonies at all; nor, until his acquaintance
with Kumshakah, that they had any thing in common with the human race,
excepting the art of fighting, and, to a limited degree, as it seemed to
him, the power of speech. So, till he had gone home that night and told
the white hunters of the circumstance, he could but vaguely guess at
the sentiment to which this simple ceremony of smoking the peace-pipe
gave expression. Nevertheless, with that facility at entering, for the
time being, into the feelings, thoughts, and ways of others peculiar to
his race, and which is due to self-unconscious imitation rather than to
self-determined adaptability, Mish-mugwa took the proffered symbol of
peace and friendship, and with a solemnity that would have seemed
ludicrous to any one but a black man or a red man, gave just as many
whiffs as he had seen Kumshakah give, then, with the air of one who knew
as well as anybody what he was doing, returned the pipe to Kumshakah.
The peace-pipe emptied of its ashes and returned to its owner, the young
brave rose at once and silently extended his hand. Burl seized it with a
huge, devouring grip that would have made any one but an Indian wince,
and with a big, round, stag-like tear in either big, round, ox-like eye,
thus bid farewell: "Good-by, Kumshy. De good Lord go wid you all yo'
days. Come an' see us ag'in--Miss Jemimy an' Mishy-muggy an'
Sheky-depatty; Mishy-muggy's me, you know, an' Sheky-depatty's Bushie.
Come an' see us all ag'in. Good-by."
Then going up to Bushie, Kumshakah shook him, likewise, by the hand; the
dear little fellow, without saying a word, gazing up wistfully into the
young Indian's face, his blue eyes brimming over with tears. But when he
saw his red friend going at last, then did the affectionate
Shekee-thepatee lift up his voice and weep aloud.
"Come back, Kumshakah!" he cried; "come back, and live with us, and
never leave us, Kumshakah!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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