The Black Eagle; or, Ticonderoga

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER XXV.

  On the very same night which was passed by Edith Prevost in the greatlodge of the Black Eagle, eight or ten wild-looking savages, if theycould so be called, assembled apparently to deliberate upon some greatand important question. The place they took for their meeting laynearly twenty miles in a direct line from the Oneida lake, and was,even in the daylight, a scene of no inconsiderable beauty andgrandeur.

  At the hour of their meeting, however, which was about forty minutesafter the sun went down, the surrounding objects were illuminated by adifferent and a more appropriate light. Their council-fire had beenkindled on the top of a large flat mass of stone, in a very narrowdell or pass which separated a rugged and forest-bearing mountain froma spur of the same range, that seemed to have been riven from theparent chain by some rude and terrible convulsion of nature. Fortyyards, at the widest part, was the expanse of this deep fissure; andon either side were huge masses of rock tumbled about in chaoticconfusion, and blocking up the greater part of the bottom of the dell.From behind these rose the riven cliffs, rough and serrated, like theedges of two saws, the teeth of which would fit into each other ifpressed together. But upon all the salient points, even where itseemed impossible for a handful of vegetable mould to rest, a talltree had perched itself, spreading out its branches almost till theymet those on the opposite side of the glen, through which no torrentrushed, neither had any spring burst forth when the earthquake rentthe solid foundations of the mountain; but a dry, short turf coveredall the earth accumulated below.

  Between the great blocks of stone which encumbered the pass, whereverrain could penetrate, rose tall and graceful wild flowers; and, in themore open parts, the grassy carpet was freckled, in the springtime ofthe year, with many a curious little blossom. Tall pines and ruggedhemlocks--some straight as a column, some strangely twisted andcontorted--the great black oak, with innumerable other shrubs andtrees, gathered wherever the banks of the dell were a little lessprecipitous; and, when one looked up, one perceived, by theoverhanging branches, that the mountain-top was clothed with a densecovering of forest.

  About half-way through the glen was the large flat stone--a sort ofnatural altar, on which the Indians had lighted their fire; andstrange and wild was the scene, as those swarthy men, armed as if forbattle, but not painted, sat around in the broad glare, each with hisrifle resting on his arm, and each still and motionless as a statuehewn out of the brown rock. Up went the towering flame from the greatpile of dry wood, sending a flickering light over tree and precipice;yet no one stirred, no one spoke, for several minutes. Each eye wasfixed upon the fire, not as if watching it as an object of interest,but with the steady, thoughtful gaze which showed that the mind wasbusy with other things; and there was something very awful in thatstern, cold silence.

  At length, the Black Eagle began to speak, without moving from hisseat--however, at least, first. His tone, too, was low and sad; thoughevery word, in the sharp gutteral language of the Iroquois, was clearand distinct.

  "For more than fifty winters," he said, "I have hovered over the landof the Oneidas; and my wing has not failed in its flight, my eyes havenot been dazzled by the blaze of the sun, nor dimmed by the light ofthe moon. The dew has fallen upon me, and the summer's sun, and thewinter's snow; and still are my feathers unruffled, and my flight asstrong as in my youth. I am not a woman, that I should spare; nor achild, that I should weep. Who has seen a tear in my eye? or who hasseen the tomahawk uplifted not to strike? Have I asked anything of mychildren, but to be the first in the battle? Have I ever forgiven theenemies of the children of the Stone? But we have made alliance with agreat nation; we have taken presents from them; we have promised tolive with them as brothers in the time of peace--to go to battle withthem as brothers in the time of war. Our children are their children,and their children are ours. Moreover, with some of this nation ourchiefs have entered into more strict bonds of friendship. We have satby their fires, we have smoked the pipe of peace together; we aretheir brothers. One family came and built their lodge amongst us,swept down the forest, planted the corn-field. Their door was alwaysopen to the red man; their food was always shared with him. They saidnot, 'This is mine, and that is thine,' but they opened their arms andthey said, 'Thou art my brother.' The children of the Stone loved themwell; they were dear to the Black Eagle as his own eaglets. The mat inthe house of Prevost was a pleasant resting-place to his forehead whenhe was tired. _His_ daughter was as _my_ daughter, and his son as ofmy blood and bone.

  "A man came to his hearth whom we all know, a good man, a friend tothe red man. Should my brother Prevost refuse to the Woodchuck room toburrow for one night? He went away, and, far from the house of ourbrother, he met an Oneida, of the Totem of the Tortoise; a man who hadrobbed him, and who had a lying tongue, a snake who hated him whom hehad bitten. The tomahawk was bare, and the Oneida was killed; but theman took not his scalp, he sung no song of triumph over the childrenof the Stone. He slew him not as an enemy, but in self-defence;otherwise he would have twisted his finger in the scalp-lock, and theOneidas would have mourned over a disgrace. It is right that thereshould be blood for blood; that the man who sheds the blood of the redman should die for his act; and that, if he or none of his relationscould be found, some other man of his nation should be made thesacrifice.

  "But what have I done that the son of my brother should be taken? HaveI led you so often in the battle, have I covered my war-post with thescalps of your enemies, that the tree I planted should be rooted upwhen the forest is full of worthless saplings? Was there no otherwhite man to be found in all the land, that you must take the child ofhim who loved and trusted us? Had a moon passed,--nay, had even a weekgone by, that you might know that there was none but the beloved ofthe Black Eagle whom you might use for your sacrifice? Had you madesure even that you could not catch the murderer himself, and take hisblood in requital of the blood he shed? Is the wisdom of our peoplegone by, is their cunning a thing of other days, that they could notlure the man they sought into their power, that they could not huntdown any other game, that they would not even try to find any one butthe one we loved the best?

  "Remember, my children, that you are not rash and hasty, like thepale-face, but that you are the children of the Stone; and though,like it, unchangeable, and strong, you should be calm and still,likewise.--I have said."

  There was a pause of several minutes before any one answered; and thena man of the middle age, not so tall as the Black Eagle by severalinches, but with a peculiarly cunning and serpent-like look about hiseyes, rose slowly from his seat, and, standing on the very point ofthe rock where he was placed, said, in a hard, cold tone,--

  "The Black Eagle has spoken well. We are allies of the white man. Thepale-face calls us his brother. He takes our hunting-grounds. Heplants corn and feeds oxen amongst us. Where our foot was free to go,is ours no longer; it is his. He has taken it from us; and he is ourbrother. The Black Eagle loves the pale-face. He took a pale-face forhis wife, and he loves all her race. He loves their religion. Hisdaughter is of the religion of the white man. He himself has faith intheir Gods. Their Great Spirit he adores, and he has made theirmedicine-man his son by adoption. Is the religion of the white man thesame as the religion of the children of the Stone? Is _their_ GreatSpirit _our_ great spirit? No; for I have heard his words spoken, andthey are not the words that we are taught. The white man's Spirit tellus that we shall not do that which our Great Spirit tells us to do. Itbids men spare their enemies, and to forgive. Ours tells us to slayour enemies, and to avenge. Which is the true Spirit? Our own; for thepale-face does not believe in his own Spirit, nor obey his commands.He does not spare his enemies; he does not forgive; but he takesvengeance as fiercely as the red man, and against his own law. Let us,then, obey the voice of our own Great Spirit, and do according to ourown customs; for the white man knows his God to be false, or he wouldobey his commandments.

  "Now, what would the Black Eagle have? Would he have us all turnChristians? Or would he have us
obey the voice of the Maneto, andfollow the customs of our fathers? Have we not done according to ourown law? What do our traditions tell us? They say that thou shaltappease the spirit of thy brother who is slain, by pouring out theblood of the slayer. If his blood cannot be had, then that of one ofhis family, or of his friends. If his family and his friends are notto be found, then that of one of his nation. Lo! now, what is thecase, chiefs and warriors of the Oneidas? You have a brother slain.His soul goes to the land of spirits; but his bow and his arrows hangidly at his back. His heart is sad and desolate. He howls for food andfinds none. He wanders round and round the happy hunting-grounds, andlooks in in sorrow; for he must not enter till the blood of atonementhas been shed. He cries to you from the other side of the grave with agreat cry: 'Give me rest!' Shall his brothers give him none?--shallthey let him wander, cold and hungry, amidst frost and snow withinsight of the blessed region, and prevent him from entering--or shallwe take the first man we find of the race of him who slew him, and byhis blood, poured out upon this very stone, appease the spirit of ourdead brother, and let him enter the happy hunting-grounds, where hissoul may find repose?

  "Ye men of the family of the Snake! ye have done well to seize uponthe pale-face whom ye first found; for ye have made sure of anatonement for the blood of your brother; and how could ye know that yecould find it if ye delayed your hand or abandoned your prey. And nowlet the chiefs and the warriors consider whether they will still keeptheir brother, who is dead, hungering and thirsting for months in thecold regions, or whether they will make the atonement this very night,and open the way for him into the happy hunting-grounds.--I havesaid."

  Again a deep silence took possession of the throng, and it was notsoon broken; but the eyes of the Black Eagle moved hither and thitherround the circle, watching every face; and, when he gathered by a sortof kindling look in the eyes of one of the warriors that he was aboutto speak, he himself interposed, rising this time to his full height,and saying,--

  "The medicine-man has spoken, and he has expounded the law; but he hascounselled with words contrary to the law. The medicine-man has thelaw in his heart; but his words are the words of foxes. He has notunfolded the roll of the law into which the words of the Maneto werewhispered; but he says truly that we are to shed the blood of themurderer of our brother to appease his spirit. If we cannot find him,we are to shed the blood of some one of his near kindred; if we cannotfind one of them, the blood of one of his nation. But have ye soughtfor the murderer, ye brethren of the Snake? Can ye say that ye havetried to catch him? Have ye had time? Will your brother, who is gone,be contented with the blood of the first pale-face ye can find, whenye might find the real murderer? Will he lap like the dog at the firstpool in his way? Will he not rather say: 'Give us the only sweet waterthat can allay our thirst?' Would ye mutter in our ears, and make usbelieve music? This is not the blood of him who shed our blood. Thisis not the blood of his kindred. The happy hunting-grounds will notopen to the slain for this blood.

  "Oneidas, it is the medicine-man who beguiles you from the customs ofyour fathers. They say: 'Wait till ye have searched diligently. Makesure that ye offer the best atonement that ye can. Do not kill the foxbecause the panther has mangled the game. Do not shoot the oriole forthe thing that the hawk has done.' The son of my brother Prevost is nokin of the Yengee who slew the Snake. His blood will not atone if yecan find other blood more friendly to the murderer. The eyes of theManeto are over all; he sees that ye have not sought as ye shouldseek."

  Some moments after he had spoken, but with a less interval than hadhitherto occurred between any of the speeches, a fierce-looking youngwarrior arose, and exclaimed,--

  "Let him die. Why should we wait? The Woodchuck is safe in the land ofthe Yengees. He has taken himself far from the arrow of the Oneida.There is a cloud between us and him; and we cannot see through it. TheWoodchuck has no kindred. He has often declared so when he has sat bythe fire, and talked of the deeds he has done. He has boasted that hewas a man alone; that his father was clay, and his mother grass, andthe hemlock and the oak his brothers and his sisters. Neither him canwe find, nor any of his kin; but we have taken what was nearest tohim--his friend and the son of his friend. This is the blood that willappease the spirit of our brother. Let him die, and die quickly. Doesthe Black Eagle ask if this boy was his friend? The Black Eagle knowshe was; but, moreover, it may be that he himself was companion of themurderer even when he killed our brother. They went forth together toseek for some prey. Was it not the red man that the wolves hunted?They killed a panther and a man when they were both together. That weknow; for there were eyes of red men near. The blood of our brotherwas licked up by the earth. The skin of the panther was sent by thisboy, our captive, to Otaitsa, the daughter of the Black Eagle. I tookit from the runner this very day. The man who brought it is near athand. The skin is here.--I have said."

  And he threw the panther's skin down before him, almost into the flameof the fire.

  A buzzing murmur ran round the Indians, and the keen mind of BlackEagle soon perceived that the immediate danger of poor Walter Prevostwas greatly heightened.

  "Let the law be announced to us," he said. "The roll of the law ishere; but let it not be read by the tongue of a fox. Let the man ofancient times read it. Let the warrior and the priest who kept it forso many years now tell us what it ordains, according to theinterpretation of old days, and not according to the rashness of boys,who would be chiefs long before a scalp hangs at the door of theirlodge. I can see," he cried, in a loud voice, starting up from hisseat, and waving his arm, as if some strong emotion overpowered hishabitual calmness,--"I can see the time coming when the intemperanceof youth, and the want of respect for age and for renown, will bringlow the power of the Oneidas, will crush the greatness of the FiveNations into dust. So long as age and counsel were reverenced, theywere a mighty people, and the scalps of their enemies were broughtfrom every battle-field. They were a wise people, for they listened tothe voice of experience, and they circumvented their enemies. But nowthe voice of boys and striplings prevails. They take presents, andthey sell themselves for baubles. They drink the fire-water till theyare no more men--till reason has departed, and courage and strengthare not in them. They use the lightning, and they play with thethunder; but the tomahawk and the scalping-knife are green rushes intheir hands. Let the law be announced, then; let it be announced bythe voice of age and wisdom, and let us abide by his words, for theyare good."

  Thus saying, he stepped across the little chasm between him and thesecond speaker on this occasion, and took up a heavy roll which laybeside the priest or medicine-man. It consisted of innumerable stringsof shells sawn into long strips like the pendants of an ear-ring, andstained of three separate colours, black, red, and white. These weredisposed in various curious groups, forming no regular pattern, yetnot without order; and so many were there in this roll, that, thougheach was very small, the weight of the whole could not have been lessthan twenty or thirty pounds.

  Thus loaded, and bearing this burden with the appearance of greatreverence, Black Eagle carried the roll half round the circle, andlaid it upon the knees of a man evidently far advanced in life:although his shaved head and long white scalp-lock showed, to anIndian eye at least, that he still judged himself fit to accompany thewarriors of the tribe to battle.

  The chief then slowly resumed his seat, and once more profound silencespread over the assembly. The eyes of all were, it is true, directedtowards the old man whose exposition of their laws and customs was tobe final; but not a limb stirred, and even the very eagerness of theirgaze was subdued into a look of tranquil attention, except in the caseof the young man who had spoken so vehemently, and whose relationshipas a brother to the slain Indian excused, in the sight of his tribe, agood deal of unwonted agitation.

  For about two minutes after receiving the roll, the old priestremained motionless, with his eyes raised towards the flame that stilltowered up before him, licking and scorching the branches of a hemlocktree a
bove.

  At last, his fingers began to move amongst the carved shells; and,unloosing rapidly some thongs by which the roll was bound, he spreadout the seemingly tangled mass in fair order. Then, bending down hishead, he seemed to listen as if for a voice.

  "The law of the Oneidas cannot change," he said, at length. "It is asthe will of Hawaneyoh, the Great Spirit. A white man must die for theblood spilt by a white man. But the spiller of the blood must besought for, or our brother will still be shut out from the happyhunting-grounds. Listen not to the song of singing-birds against theyoung man, thou brother of the Snake. Neither do thou make trouble inthe Five Nations, because the blossom of the Black Eagle's tree cannotbe reached by thy hand."

  The open allusion to that which he thought was one of the deep secretsof his bosom was too much for even the Indian stoicism of the brotherof the Snake; and he drew his blanket or mantle over his chest, as ifto hide what was within. Black Eagle, however, though probably takenas much by surprise as any one by the old man's words, remainedperfectly unmoved, not a change of expression even appearing upon hisrigid features, though the speaker paused for a full minute, as if tolet what he had said produce its full effect.

  "Remember," continued the priest, "the prophecy of the child of thesky, Tohganawatah, when our fathers, under his counsel, joinedthemselves together in a perpetual league, a lifetime before apale-face was seen in the land. He said, 'When the white-throats shallcome, if ye suffer dissensions among yourselves, ye shall pull downthe Long House of the Five Nations, cut down the tree of Peace, andextinguish the council-fire for ever.' And wilt thou, brother of theSnake, bring this cloud upon thy people? Thou shalt search for him whospilt thy brother's blood, till the moon have changed and waxed andwaned again; and then thou shalt come before Sachems of the eightTotems, and make manifest that thou hast not been able to find him orany of his kindred. Then shall the Sachems choose a pale-face for thesacrifice, and let him die the death of a warrior by the stroke of thetomahawk. But they shall make no delay; for thy brother must not beshut out from the hunters gone before, more than two moons.--Hiro, Ihave spoken.

  "Koue, Koue! It is well!" said all the Indians present, but one; and,rising from their seats, they raised the roll of their law reverently,and one by one glided down the path which led to the opening of thedell.