ten by all.

Shall they have no revenge?
Shall we not plant the stake, and bind the fair-one?
The beautiful maid, with her hair like bunches of grapes,
And her eyes like the blue sky,
And her skin white as the blossoms of the forest-tree,
And her voice as the music of a little stream?
Shall she not be torn with sharp thorns,
And burned in fiery flames?

[Footnote A: The Magnolia, whose flowers are said to be poisonous.]

He ceased singing, and listened, but the Evil Spirit answered not. Just
as he was going to begin another song, they saw a large ball rolling
very fast up the hill towards the spot where they stood. It was the
height of a man. When it came up to them it began to unwind itself
slowly until at last a little strange-looking man crept out of the ball,
which was made of his own hair. He was no higher than my shoulders. One
of his feet made a strange track, the like of which the Indians had
never seen before. His face was as black as the shell of the butter-nut,
or the feathers of the raven, and his eyes as green as grass. And
stranger yet was his hair, for it was of the colour of moss, and so long
that, as the wind blew it out, it seemed the tail of a fiery star. There
he stood, grinning and laughing very loud. "What do you want of me?" he
asked Sketupah.

The priest answered, "The Shawanos want revenge. They want to sacrifice
the beautiful daughter of the sun, whom the Mad Buffalo has brought from
the camp of the Walkullas."

"They shall have their wish," said the Evil Spirit. "She shall be
sacrificed. Go and fetch her to the hill."

Then the Old Eagle, and the chiefs and warriors, went to fetch the
beautiful maiden to the hill of sacrifice. They found her sitting in her
cabin, with the chief warrior watching at her door. He would have fought
for her, and had already raised his spear to strike the foremost
warrior, when Chenos commanded him to be still; "for," said he, "my
master will see that she does not suffer. Before the star of day sets in
the Mighty River, the nation of Shawanos shall see whose god is greatest
and strongest--Sketupah's, or mine."

Then they built the fire, fixed the stake, and bound the beautiful woman
to it. Till now the head warrior had stood still, for he looked that the
priest of the Great Spirit should snatch her away from the Evil One. But
when he saw her bound to the stake, and the flames beginning to arise,
he shouted his war-cry, and r