Another
condition of this concession to a foreordered necessity, is, that a
Christian minister may be at hand, in order-that the sufferer may depart
with the prayers of one accustomed to lift his voice in petitions to the
footstool of the Almighty."
The Mohegan chief heard this sentence with deep attention. When he found
he was to be denied the satisfaction of proving, or perhaps of overcoming,
the resolution of his enemy, a deep cloud passed across his swarthy
visage. But the strength of his tribe had long been broken, and to resist
would have been as unprofitable as to repine would have been unseemly. The
conditions were therefore accepted, and preparations were accordingly made
among the Indians to proceed to judgment.
These people had few contradictory principles to appease, and no
subtleties to distract their decision. Direct, fearless, and simple in all
their practices, they did little more than gather the voices of the
chiefs, and acquaint their captive with the result. They knew that
fortune had thrown an implacable enemy into their hands, and they believed
that self-preservation demanded his life.
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