Once or twice,
smothered sounds came out of the place, as if suppressed shrieks were
escaping the females; but they ceased so suddenly as to leave doubts among
the auditors, whether it were more than the deception of their own excited
fancies. The savages had witnessed many a similar scene of human
suffering, but never one before in which death was met by so unmoved a
calmness. The serenity that reigned in the blazing block communicated to
them a feeling of awe; and when the pile came a tumbling and blackened
mass of ruins to the earth, they avoided the place, like men that dreaded
the vengeance of a Deity who knew how to infuse so deep a sentiment of
resignation in the breasts of his worshippers.
Though the yells of victory were again heard in the valley that night, and
though the sun had arisen before the conquerors deserted the hill, but few
of the band found resolution to approach the smouldering pile, where they
had witnessed so impressive an exhibition of Christian fortitude. The few
that did draw near, stood around the spot rather in the reverence with
which an Indian visits the graves of the just, than in the fierce
rejoicings with which he is known to glut his revenge over a fallen enemy.
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