heard! It was not a war-whoop, it was
not the yell of the fiends, it was not the groan of the captive tied to
the stake; it was a voice of glory, that shouted the name of the
Shoshones--for all were Shoshones. There were no Pale-faces among
them,--none! Owato Wanisha was there, but he had a red skin, and his
hair was black; so were his two fathers, but they were looking young; so
was his aged and humble friend, but his limbs seemed to have recovered
all the activity and vigour of youth; so were his two young friends, who
have fought so bravely at the Post, when the cowardly Umbiquas entered
our grounds. This is all what I have heard, all what I have seen; and
the whisper said to me, as the vision faded away, `Lose no time, old
chief, the day has come! Say to thy warriors Listen to the young
Pale-face. The Great Spirit of the Red-skin will pass into his breast,
and lend him some words that the Shoshone will understand.'

"I am old and feeble; I am tired, arise, my grandson Owato Wanisha;
speak to my warriors; tell them the wishes of the Great Spirit. I have
spoken."

Thus called upon, I advanced to the place which the chief had left
vacant, and spoke in my turn:--

"Shoshones, fathers, brothers, warriors,--I am a Pale-face, but you know
all my heart is a Shoshone's. I am young, but no more a child. It is
but a short time since that I was a hunter; since that time the Manitou
has made me a warrior, and led me among strange and distant tribes,
where he taught me what I should do to render the Shoshones a great
people. Hear my words, for I have but one tongue; it is the tongue of
my heart, and in my heart now dwells the Good Spirit. Wonder not, if I
assume the tone of command to give orders; the orders I will give are
the Manitou's.

"The twelve wisest heads of the Shoshones will go to the Arrapahoes.
With them they will take presents; they will take ten sons of chiefs,
who have themselves led men on the war-path; they will take ten young
girls, fair to look at, daughters of chiefs, whose voices are soft as
the warbling of the birds in the fall. At the great council of the
Arrapahoes, the ten girls will be offered to ten great chiefs, and ten
great chiefs will offer their own daughters to our ten young warriors;
they will offer peace for ever; they will exchange all the scalps, and
they will may that their fathers, the Shoshones, will once more open
their arms to their brave children. Our best hunting-grou