Tell me; why is the mind of a
Yengeese so big, that it must hold all that lies between the rising and
the setting sun? Speak, for we would know the reason, why arms so long are
found on so little bodies?"
The events of that day had been of a nature to awaken all the latent
energies of the Puritan. He had lifted up his spirit, with the morning,
in the customary warmth with which he ever hailed the Sabbath; the
excitement of the assault had found him sustained above most earthly
calamities, and while it quickened feelings that can never become extinct
in one who has been familiar with martial usages, it left him, stern in
his manhood, and exalted in his sentiments of submission and endurance.
Under such influences, he answered with an austerity that equalled the
gravity of the Indian.
"The Lord hath delivered us into the bonds of the heathen," he said,
"and yet his name shall be blessed beneath my roof! Out of evil shall
come good; and from this triumph of the ignorant shall proceed an
everlasting victory!"
The chief gazed intently at the speaker, whose attenuated frame, venerable
face, and long locks, aided by the hectic of enthusiasm that played
beneath a glazed and deep-set eye, imparted a character that seemed to
rise superior to human weakness.
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