The proposal, and
his method of address, appeared so exceedingly bold and uncommon, that
his request was granted. Then he suddenly seized one end of the red hot
barrel, and, brandishing it from side to side, he found his way through
the armed and surprised multitude, and leaped down a prodigious steep
and high bank into a branch of the river, dived through it, ran over a
small island, passed the other branch amidst a shower of bullets, and,
though numbers of his eager enemies were in close pursuit of him, he got
to a bramble swamp, and in that naked, mangled condition, reached his
own country. He proved a sharp thorn in their side afterwards, to the
day of his death.
The Shawano also captivated a warrior of the Anantooiah, and put him to
the stake, according to their usual cruel solemnities. Having
unconcernedly suffered much sharp torture, he told them with scorn, they
did not know how to punish a noted enemy, therefore he was willing to
teach them, and would confirm the truth of his assertion, if they
allowed him the opportunity. Accordingly he requested of them a pipe and
some tobacco, which was given him; as soon as he lighted it, he sat
down, naked as he was, on the women's burning torches, that were within
his circle, and continued smoking his pipe without the least
discomposure. On this a head warrior leaped up, and said they had seen,
plain enough, that he was a warrior, and not afraid of dying; nor should
he have died, but that he was both spoiled by the fire, and devoted to
it by their laws; however, though he was a very dangerous enemy, and his
nation a treacherous people, it should appear they paid a regard to
bravery, even in one, who was marked over the body with war streaks at
the cost of many lives of their beloved kindred.
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