Historical fiction; King Philip's War, 1675-1676 -- Fiction; War stories
The movement of the timid hare is scarce more hurried, or more undecided,
than that of the creature who now suddenly presented herself to the
warriors. It was apparent, by the hesitating and half-retreating step that
succeeded the light bound with which she came in view, that she dreaded to
advance, while she knew not how far it might be proper to retire. For the
first moment, she stood in a suspended and doubting posture, such as one
might suppose a creature of mist would assume ere it vanished, and then
meeting the eye of Conanchet, the uplifted foot retouched the earth, and
her whole form sunk into the modest and shrinking attitude of an Indian
girl, who stood in the presence of a Sachem of her tribe. As this female
is to enact no mean part in that which follows, the reader may be thankful
for a more minute description of her person.
The age of the stranger was under twenty. In form she rose above the usual
stature of an Indian maid, though the proportions of her person were as
light and buoyant as at all comported with the fullness that properly
belonged to her years. The limbs, seen below the folds of a short kirtle
of bright scarlet cloth, were just and tapering, even to the nicest
proportions of classic beauty; and never did foot of higher instep, and
softer roundness, grace a feathered moccason. Though the person, from the
neck to the knees, was hid by a tightly-fitting vest of calico and the
short kirtle named, enough of the shape was visible to betray outlines
that had never been injured, either by the mistaken devices of art or by
the baneful effects of toil. The skin was only visible at the hands, face,
and neck. Its lustre having been a little dimmed by exposure, a rich, rosy
tint had usurped the natural brightness of a complexion that had once
been fair even to brilliancy. The eye was full, sweet, and of a blue that
emulated the sky of evening; the brows, soft and arched; the nose,
straight, delicate, and slightly Grecian; the forehead, fuller than that
which properly belonged to a girl of the Narragansetts, but regular,
delicate, and polished; and the hair, instead of dropping in long straight
tresses of jet black, broke out of the restraints of a band of beaded
wampum, in ringlets of golden yellow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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