liding noiselessly over the bosom of the silver
stream, leaping from cliff to cliff of the distant hills, or winding
down their steep passes and narrow defiles, to meet in the great central
village, around the grand council fire of the nation. The whole tribe
was there--the chiefs in all their gaudy array of bead-work, feathers,
and paint, their embroidered moccasins, their gaily wrought tunics and
belts, their polished rifles, and glittering tomahawks--the women and
children, and the rank and file of the people, in all the finery and
gewgaws they could command. It was a brave sight to those accustomed to
the barbaric finery and wild sports of the Indian, but fearful and
hideous to one unused to the rude painted visages and half naked forms
of the warriors.

The awful hour of those dreadful orgies was announced by all those
discordant shouts and hideous yells, which, with those primitive races,
serve the purpose of trumpet, drum and bell. The stake was set, and the
faggots made ready, in the centre of the great opening. The priests
stood at their post, and the vast multitude of eager excited witnesses
thronged around, waiting in terrible expectation for the consummation of
that horrid rite, and kindling into phrenzy in view of the mad revelry
that would follow. Presently, the outer ranks of that crowding circle
made way, and opened a passage to the ring within. Through this living
avenue, a company of chiefs marched in, singing, or rather shouting, a
wild song, and dancing in fantastic measures. At their head was the
captor of Monica, leading the timid girl by the hand. She was arrayed in
the most showy and expensive style of Indian costume, the various
decorations of her person comprising all that was beautiful and rare in
ornament, according to the uncultivated taste of that people.
Unconscious still of the doom that awaited her, and hoping, perhaps,
that this was to be the festival of her freedom, when she would be sent
away in peace to her home, she entered the circle with a cheerful face,
and an elastic step, smiling on her young companions as she passed, and
wondering at the cold look, or sometimes averted eye, with which her
salutation was answered.

It was not until she was led quite up to the stake, and saw the fearful
faggots piled around it, that she comprehended the meaning of these
mysterious preparations. Her awful doom flashed upon her, like a bolt
from heaven. With one loud, piercing, heart-rending shri