"
"There are no traditions among the Indians of the islands!" said the
other, with an ironical glance at the chiefs near him, "They have
never heard of Miantonimoh; they do not know such a field as the
Sachem's plain!"
The countenance of the prisoner changed. For a single instant, it appeared
to grow dark, as if a deep shadow were cast athwart it; and then every
feature rested, as before, in dignified repose. His conqueror watched the
play of his lineaments, and when he thought nature was getting the
ascendancy, exultation gleamed about his own fierce eye; but when the
self-possession of the Narragansett returned, he affected to think no more
of an effort that had been fruitless.
"If the men of the islands know little," he continued, "it is not so with
the Mohicans. There was once a great Sachem among the Narragansetts; he
was wiser than the beaver, swifter than the moose, and more cunning than
the red fox. But he could not see, into to-morrow. Foolish counsellors
told him to go upon the war-path against the Pequots and Mohicans. He lost
his scalp; it hangs in the smoke of my wigwam.
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