nger!
danger!' let them grasp their bows and war-spears, and be men."

"Go," said the hunter, cutting the string which bound the prisoner to
the tree of death. So the old white owl, with a couple of mice in his
claws, went back to his lodge in the hollow oak, to comfort his old
woman whom the Evil One would not have, and to see his daughter married
to the young gray owl, while the youthful hunter departed to pursue a
deer, which that moment appeared in a glade of the neighbouring forest.

Many seasons had passed away, flowers had sprung up to wither, and the
sprouts from the seed of the oak had become lofty trees that bent not
with the weight of the panther. The young hunter married the maiden for
whose sake he would have killed the old white owl; their children were
many and good; and the hunter himself had become head chief of the
Unamis or Turtles, the most potent tribe of Delawares, and who reckon
themselves the parent of all other Indians. They had fought many great
battles; they had warred with the nations of the North and the South,
the East, and the West, with the Shawanos of the Burning Water[A], the
Mengwe of the Great Lakes, the Sioux who hunt beyond the River of
Fish[B], and the Narragansetts who dwell in the land of storms: and in
all and over all they had been victorious. The warriors of the Smoking
Water had confessed themselves women, the Sioux had paid their tribute
of bear-skins, the Narragansetts had sent beautiful shells for their
women, and the Mengwees had fled from the war-shout of the Delawares, as
a startled deer runs from the cry of the hunter. Our warriors had just
returned from invading the lands of the latter tribe, and had brought
with them many scalps. They were weary and exhausted, but an Indian
warrior never admits that he is either. So they feasted and rejoiced
loud and long. They sung in the open ears of their people their
exploits, the foes by their valour laid low, or duped by their cunning,
or victims to their patience in awaiting the proper moment for attack,
or to their speed and celerity in pursuit. And they danced the dance of
thanksgiving in honour of their protecting Wahconda,[C] and gave the
scalp-yell for every scalp taken, as is the custom of Indian warriors
when returned from a successful expedition.

[Footnote A: Burning Water, the river Walkulla, in Florida, near the
source of which there is, or was, a burning spring. See the Tradition.]

[Footnote B: River of Fish, a