Part 41 (1/2)
”The arts of the Longbeard have blown a cloud between me and my kindred, so that they cannot seesun”
”It is the fire-water that puts out the eyes of Ohquaet what he owes to the wife of Huttamoiden,” exclaimed the boy, with suppressed passion
”Peace, Quadaquina,” said his mother ”Ohquamehud is not now the slave of the fire-water Go,” she added, detecting, with a h-spirited boy, ”and return not until thou hast taer Wolves dwell not in the cabin of Peena”
The boy, with downcast eyes, and obedient to his mother, left the hut
In explanation of this scene we may say, that, unhappily, like most Indians, Ohquamehud was addicted to the use of spirituous liquors, his indulgence in the fiery gratification being lih unable to indulge his appetite in the cabin of Esther, he occasionally procured strong liquors in the huts of the other Indians, ho stimulants was almost universal, and sometimes in such quantities as utterly to lose his reason Returned on one of these occasions, he deive it, struck her a blow This so exasperated the boy, Quadaquina, as present, that, with a club, he prostrated the drunken man, which, indeed, in the condition he was in, was not difficult, and would, had he not been restrained by Peena, have inflicted a serious injury, if not killed him Ohquamehud never knew that he had been struck, but ascribed the violent pain in his head the next day to the fire-water, and the contusion to a fall Peena, while la the excesses of her relative, felt little or no resentment towards him; but not so with the boy He despised Ohquamehud for the miserable exhibitions of imbecility he made in his cups, and hated him for the violence to histo the articles, and desirous to re discontent frobeard (for she had no other nae All these he took out of it for Peena”
”Accursed be the gifts of the pale faces!” exclairounds, and gave perers to build walls in the rivers so that the fish cannot swi for these,” said the squaw, ave them all to her”
”Did not Peena preserve his life? But she is right The white face has an open hand, and pays more for his life than it is worth”
”The words of my husband's brother are very bitter What has the boy whom Huttamoiden's arather over the face of Ohquamehud?”
”Quah! Does Peena ask? She is more foolish than the bird, from which she takes her name, when it flies into a tree Is he not the son of Onontio?”
”Peena never saw Onontio She has only heard of hibeard is a etting dim”
”The eyes of Ohquaht upon his path, and he sees clearly what is before him It is only blood that can wash out from the eyes of a warrior the re but water has cleansed Ohquamehud's Thrice have I hty Mississippi and Ohio flow into each other's bosoms, and a third time on the plains of the Upper Illinois Look,” he cried suddenly, throwing open his shi+rt, and exposing his breast, ”the bullet of Onontio made that mark like the track of a swift canoe in the water
It talks very plain and will not let Ohquabeard be Onontio, his son has done ifts of the pale face have blinded the eyes, and stopped the ears of my sister, so that she can neither see nor hear the truth
Who, when he kills the old panther, lets the cubs escape?”
”There is peace between the redknives are as plenty as the leaves of the western forests Ohquaet the bullet of Onontio until he finds hi sun”
”My sister is very wise,” said the savage, his wholefrom the ferocity, which had at first characterized it, to a subdued and even quiet tone ”But,” added he, as it were despondingly, ”let her not fear for the safety of the Longbeard Ohquareat ato continue the conversation, nor did Peena manifest any disposition to renew it
There was, however, so about the Indian, that alar the pacific language, hich he concluded The tih for Ohqua his brutal temper, she feared that under the influence of the spirituous liquors he indulged in to excess, heand revenge, which would bring down destruction on himself, and disastrously affect the fortunes of the tribe He evidently cherished a bitter aninized as a fore when hi the consequences of an act as clearly as any one and therefore likely to be deterred froht do, when stiht Peena knew the difficulty, hich an Indian foregoes revenge, and her apprehensions were the more excited by the attachue and unforh her mind, but they now assumed consistency, and she determined to take such precautions until the departure of her kinsman as should prevent harm either to himself or others With this view, the moment she was alone with her son, she seized the opportunity to speak on the subject of her alarht it necessary to reprove his towards his uncle
”Whose blood,” she inquired, ”flows in the veins of Quadaquina?”
”It is the blood of Hutta hiave the bold heart and strong arhty Obbatinuua, whose nareat fresh water lakes”
”He had two sons?”
”Hutta to pronounce the naesture of contempt from his mother
Peena supplied the omission ”Ohquamehud,” she said ”He is a brave warrior, and the Shawnees are proud of his exploits”