_Hunter._ No doubt he did, for he was bold, and had never been taught to control his passions. The command of the Saviour had never reached his ears: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." The red man of the forest and the prairie has had much to embitter his spirit against his enemies; but I will proceed. It was in the year 1835, that between two and three hundred red warriors assembled at Camp King, to hold a "talk," or council. They were met by a battalion of white soldiers, who had two generals with them. At this council, it was proposed by the whites that a contract should be made between the two parties, wherein the Seminoles should give up their lands in Florida in exchange for other lands at a great distance from the place. Some of the red warriors were induced to make a cross on the contract as their signature, showing that they agreed therewith; but Oseola saw that such a course was bartering away his country, and sealing the ruin of his nation. _Austin._ I hope he did not put his sign to it. _Brian._ So do I, and I hope he persuaded all the rest of the red warriors not to sign it. _Hunter._ When they asked him in his turn to sign the contract, his lip began to curl with contempt, and his eye to flash with fiery indignation. "Yes!" said he, drawing a poniard from his bosom, with a haughty frown on his brow. "Yes!" said he, advancing and dashing his dagger while he spoke, not only through the contract, but also through the table on which it lay; "there is my mark!" _Austin._ Well done, brave Oseola! _Brian._ That is just the way that he ought to have acted. _Basil._ He was a very bold fellow. But what did the generals say to him? _Hunter._ His enemies, the whites, (for they were enemies,) directly seized him, and bound him to a tree. This was done in a cruel manner, for the cords cut deep into his flesh. After this, he was manacled and kept as a prisoner in solitary confinement. When it was thought that his spirit was sufficiently tamed, and that what he had suffered would operate as a warning to his people, he was set at liberty. _Austin._ The whites acted a cruel part, and they ought to have been ashamed of themselves. _Brian._ Yes, indeed. But what did Oseola do when he was free? _Hunter._ Revenge is dear to every one whose heart God has not changed. No wonder that it should burn in the bosom of an untaught Indian. He had never heard the words of Holy Scripture, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord," Rom. xii. 19; but rather looked on revenge as a virtue. Hasting to his companions, he made the forest echo with the wild war-whoop that he raised in defiance of his enemies. _Brian._ I thought he would! That is the very thing that I expected he would do.