“He comes to tear the throat of the wolf that helped to murder the great
and kind chief, Leatherlips. Die, whelp of a Shawnee!”
Gray Wolf tried to spring out of reach of his Nemesis, shaping his lips
for a war-whoop, as he did so. But the Wyandot’s tomahawk descended and
buried itself in the Shawnee’s brain. The whoop ended as a death-rattle
in his throat. His great bulk sank to earth, an inert mass. One bubbling
expiration of the breath—and Gray Wolf was a corpse.
Bright Wing wiped the blood from his tomahawk and replaced it in his
belt. Then he whipped out his scalping-knife, muttering in his own tongue:
“He helped to murder my father. His footprints will blight the flowers
and grass no more. The Great Spirit willed that Gray Wolf should die by
the hand of Bright Wing——”
He closed the sentence abruptly, and jerking off the reeking scalp of the
Shawnee, caught up his rifle and darted away in the darkness. The sound
of approaching footsteps had come to his quick ears.
A minute later a prolonged war-whoop reverberated from one end of the
village to the other. In answer to it came a hundred others. All was
excitement and confusion. Torches bobbed and flared here and there. An
enemy was in the camp.
Bright Wing flattened his form against the sloping roof of a cabin—where
he had taken refuge—and breathlessly awaited the outcome. The hut upon
which he was perched stood near the edge of the inclosure, and the roof
sloped toward the palisade. He was far from the blazing bonfires, and
darkness sheltered him. His enemies searched high and low, but failed
to discover him. Three or four times groups of them stood under the low
eaves and jabbered in guttural accents. Gradually the excitement subsided
and darkness and silence reigned.
Hours slipped by, but Bright Wing did not dare to leave his hiding-place.
He realized fully the dangers that beset him, and he shuddered, thinking
of his white friends. He must give them warning. But how? He thought of
many reckless plans, but abandoned each in turn.
Midnight passed—and morning was drawing nigh. Again the town was astir.
The Wyandot heard the buzz of myriad voices, and knew what it meant. The
allied tribes were preparing for the attack. He stretched his cramped
limbs and cautiously descended to the ground. If he was to give warning,
he must be off at once. He would make an attempt—no matter how reckless.
For several minutes he stood in the shadow of the low building, vainly
striving to map out a plan of procedure. The steady tramp of hundreds
of moccasined feet greeted his ears. The Prophet’s braves were marching
forth to battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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