Elkswatawa : $b or, The prophet of the west. A tale of the frontierFrench, James Strange
General
Elkswatawa : $b or, The prophet of the west. A tale of the frontier
French, James Strange
Tippecanoe, Battle of, Ind., 1811 -- Fiction
Here were two additional sources of trouble, and harrowing were they
to the soul of Rolfe. But his spirit was a sanguine one, and the
examination only served more fully to confirm him in his opinion.
“Yes!” he cried, “she is the same, and she still lives!”
“I wish it may prove so,” said Earth.
Day had now dawned, the Indian boy was gently sleeping, and Earth and
his mother were bearing him slowly along, when she announced that her
wigwam was at hand. Rolfe, buoyed with hope, eagerly moved forward. A
few moments passed, and a small cabin was seen in the forest. Rolfe
darted forward,—“it is not mine,” said the mother. He stopped,
dispirited, and dejected. A few moments more elapsed, and another
appeared,—“it is mine,” said the mother. Again Rolfe bounded forward,
reached the cabin, and entered.
Earth and the Indian mother also hurried on, and having reached her
lodge, they gently deposited the litter,—the mother, that she might
make preparations for the reception of her son,—and Earth, that he
might gaze on her who was the object of his search. Having entered her
wigwam, what a startling vision met his sight! Stretched on a rude
frame, over which were spread a few skins, lay a female figure, but
partly covered, and over it, with eyes fixed in horror, bent Rolfe.
The figure was youthful and delicate, and her hair, which was damp and
cold, having fallen somewhat over her face, veiled her features; but
she was pulseless, lifeless; and the cold dews of death had already
settled upon her! and yet, no word escaped Rolfe. Still he gazed in
the fixedness of horror. Earth, equally incapable of acting, likewise
remained a silent spectator, until the mother entering, approached,
and removing the hair from the face of the maiden, saw that her eyes
were set, and glazed, and cried, “she is gone, she sleeps, and will
wake no more.”
At this annunciation, Earth turned away, with tears streaming down his
face, while Rolfe, as if waked into life, bent nearer, gazed more
intently, and cried, “it is not she.”
The best tidings could not have given Earth more comfort; he
approached, and waited with fearful anxiety, a farther examination of
her features.—“No,” said Rolfe, “it is not she whom we seek;” and
turning away, he also found relief in tears.
Earth seemed happy that things were no worse, and but little time was
now allowed for sympathy with the dead; for the mother approached, and
told Earth, that the frame on which the maiden lay, she wished to
spread with skins, for her son, and added, “to the ‘Drooping Flower’
it is now a matter of little moment, whether she lies high or low.” So
thought Earth, for wrapping the delicate figure in the skins which
partly covered it, he placed it on the floor, in a corner of the
cabin, saying, “mother, let it remain here, until we shall determine
what to do with it.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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