ght propitiate, or retard, his own particular views. Hitherto the
consultations had merely been preliminary, with a design that each chief
might discover the number of supporters his particular views would be
likely to obtain, when the important subject should come before a more
solemn council of the tribe. The moment for the latter had now arrived,
and the preparations were made with a dignity and solemnity suited to
the momentous interests of the occasion.

With a refinement in cruelty, that none but an Indian would have
imagined, the place, selected for this grave deliberation, was
immediately about the post to which the most important of its subjects
was attached. Middleton and Paul were brought in their bonds, and laid
at the feet of the Pawnee; then the men began to take their places,
according to their several claims to distinction. As warrior after
warrior approached, he seated himself in the wide circle, with a mien as
composed and thoughtful, as if his mind were actually in a condition to
deal out justice, tempered, as it should be, with the heavenly quality
of mercy. A place was reserved for three or four of the principal
chiefs, and a few of the oldest of the women, as withered, as age,
exposure, hardships, and lives of savage passions could make them,
thrust themselves into the foremost circle, with a temerity, to which
they were impelled by their insatiable desire for cruelty, and which
nothing, but their years and their long tried fidelity to the nation,
would have excused.

All, but the chiefs already named, were now in their places. These had
delayed their appearance, in the vain hope that their own unanimity
might smooth the way to that of their respective factions; for,
notwithstanding the superior influence of Mahtoree, his power was to be
maintained only by constant appeals to the opinions of his inferiors. As
these important personages at length entered the circle in a body,
their sullen looks and clouded brows, notwithstanding the time given to
consultation, sufficiently proclaimed the discontent which reigned among
them. The eye of Mahtoree was varying in its expression, from sudden
gleams, that seemed to kindle with the burning impulses of his soul, to
that cold and guarded steadiness, which was thought more peculiarly to
become a chief in council. He took his seat, with the studied simplicity
of a demagogue; though the keen and flashing glance, that he immediately
threw around the silent assem