All was bustle3 within the Indian village. To one used to the Indian customs, it would have been plain that the red-skins were preparing for the war-path.
The village was alive with warriors. Gayly-painted savages5, decked with ocher and vermilion, strutted6 proudly up and down, eagerly waiting for the time to come when, like tigers, they could spring upon the pale-faces and redden their weapons with the blood of their hated foes8.
Over the village ruled the great chief, Ke-ne-ha-ha, or “The-man-that-walks”—so termed, first, because he was reputed to be the fastest runner of any red braves in the Ohio valley, Shawnee, Wyandot or Mingo; second, that when a youth, on his first war-path against the Hurons, he had stolen by night into the midst of a Huron village, literally9 walked among the sleeping warriors, and brought back to his comrades the scalp of a great Huron chief, whom he had dispatched without alarming the sleepers—the greatest warrior2 in all the Shawnee nation—a chief wise in council, brave on the war-path, and wily as the red fox.
In the village of the red-men were two whose skins were white, though they were Indians at heart. The two were renegades from their country and their kin4.
These two stood together by the river’s bank, and idly watched the daring and howling warriors. They were dressed in the Indian fashion, and were sinewy10, powerful men in build.
The taller of the two, whose hair and eyes were dark, was called Simon Girty. At one time he had been reputed to be one of the best scouts11 on the border, but, for some reason, he had forsaken12 the settlements and found a home with the fierce red-men of the forest-wild, giving up home, country, friends, every thing. He had been adopted into the Indian tribe, and none of his red-skinned brothers seemed to bear as deadly a hatred13 to the whites as this renegade, Simon Girty.
His companion was not quite so tall, or as stoutly14 built. He was called David Kendrick, and was an adopted son of the Shawnees, as Girty was of the Wyandots.
“This is going to be a bloody16 business,” said Girty, as he surveyed the yelling Indians, who were busy in the “scalp-dance.”
“Yes, our chief, Ke-ne-ha-ha, has sworn to break the power of the whites along the Ohio. The braves are well provided with arms by the British Governor. Kentucky never saw such a force upon her border as this will be,” replied the other.
Then a howl of anguish18 rung through the Indian village. The braves stopped their sports to listen. They knew the signal well: it was the wail19 for the dead. It told that some Shawnee warrior had gone to the spirit-land.
The cry of anguish came from a party of braves entering the village from the south. In their midst they bore what seemed, to the eyes of the renegades, a human body.
Attracted by the death-note, Ke-ne-ha-ha, the great chief of the Shawnees, came from his lodge.
The chief was a splendid specimen21 of a man. He stood nearly six feet in hight, and was as straight as an arrow. He was quite light in hue22 for an Indian, and his features were intelligent and finely cut.
Astonishment23 flashed from his eyes as he gazed upon the face of the dead Indian, around whom, at a respectful distance, were grouped the Shawnee warriors.
The chief recognized the features of the brave known as Little Crow, a stout15 warrior, and reputed to be one of the best fighting-men in all the Shawnee nation.
“Wah!” said the chief, in a tone that betrayed deep astonishment, “the soul of the Little Crow has gone to the spirit-land—he rests in Manitou’s bosom24. Let my braves speak—who has taken the life of the Shawnee warrior?”
“Let the chief open his ears and he shall hear,” replied one of the braves, a tall, muscular warrior, known as Watega. “Little Crow went forth25, last night, to hunt the deer in the woods of the Scioto. He was a great warrior; his arm was strong—his feet swift on the trail. He told his brothers that he would return before the spirit-lights (stars) died. He did not come. His brothers sought for him. By the banks of the Scioto they found him, but the hatchet26 of a foe7 had taken the life of the Little Crow.”
Then the chief knelt by the side of the body and examined the wound in the head; the clotted27 blood marked the spot.
The head of the chief had been split open by a single blow, and that dealt by a giant’s hand. The wound had apparently28 been made by a tomahawk, and, as the chief guessed, the dead man had been attacked suddenly, and from the rear.
“Did my warriors find no trail of the enemy who took the life of their brother?” asked the chief, still keeping his position by the body, and with a puzzled look upon his face.
“Wah!—the Shawnee braves have eyes—they are not blind, like owls29 in the light. When they found the Little Crow dead, they looked for the track of the foe. They found footprints by the body, but the trail came from nowhere and went nowhere.”
“And the footprints—Indian or pale-face?”
“Pale-face, but the moccasins of the red-man,” answered the brave.
The brow of the chief grew dark. A white foe so near the village of the Shawnee, and so daring as to attack and kill one of the best warriors of the tribe, apparently without a struggle, must needs be looked after.
“My braves must hunt down the pale-face that wears the moccasin of the Indian and uses the tomahawk,” said the chief, gravely.
Then Ke-ne-ha-ha drew aside the blanket that was wrapt around the body of the dead brave. A cry of horror broke from the lips of the great chief, and was re-echoed by the surrounding Indians when they gazed upon the naked breast of the dead warrior.
The circle of friends gazed upon the mysterious mark in silent consternation31. Their staring eyes and fear-stricken[4] countenances32 showed plainly how deeply they were interested.
And what was the totem of the Wolf Demon?
On the naked breast of the brawny33 dead chief were three slashes34, apparently made by a knife, thus:
Red Arrow
And the blood, congealing35 on the skin, formed a Red Arrow.
It was the totem of the Wolf Demon—the invisible and fatal scourge36 of the great Shawnee nation. Thus he marked his victims.
“Let my people sing the death-song, for a brave warrior has gone to the spirit-land. Ke-ne-ha-ha will seek the counsel of the Great Medicine Man, so that he may learn how to fight the Wolf Demon, who has stricken unto death the great braves of the Shawnee nation, and put the totem of the Red Arrow upon their breast.”
Sorrowfully the warriors obeyed the words of the chief, and soon the sound of lamentation38 wailed39 out loud on the air, which, but a moment before, had resounded41 with the glad shouts of triumph.
Slowly and with knitted brows Ke-ne-ha-ha betook himself to the lodge of the old Indian who was the Great Medicine Man of the Shawnee tribe.
The death of one of the principal warriors of his tribe by the dreaded42 hand of the Wolf Demon, almost within the very precincts of his village, and at the moment when he was preparing to set out on his expedition against the whites, seemed like an omen40 of evil. A dark cloud descended43 upon his soul, despite all his efforts to remove it.
The two renegades had joined the circle around the dead Indian, and had listened to the story of how he met his death. Then, when the circle had broken up, they had slowly walked back again to their former position by the bank of the river.
“Dave, the words of the chief are a mystery to me, though the Indians seem to understand them well enough. What did he mean when he spoke of the Wolf Demon? and what did that mark of a Red Arrow, cut on the breast of the dead Indian, mean?”
“Why, don’t you know?” asked the other, in astonishment.
“No; you forget that for the past six months I have been at upper Sandusky, with the Wyandots.”
“Yes; and it is just about six months since the Wolf Demon first appeared.”
“Explain,” said Girty, unable to guess the mystery.
“I will. For the past six months some mysterious being has singled out the warriors of the Shawnee tribe for his victims. He always seems to take them by surprise; single warriors alone he attacks. And on the breast of those he kills he leaves, as his mark, three slashes with a knife forming a Red Arrow, like the one you saw on this fellow.”
“But the name of the Wolf Demon?”
“I will explain. One Indian alone has lived to tell of an encounter with this mysterious slayer45. He was only stunned46, and recovered. He reported that he was attacked by a huge gray wolf, with a man’s head—the face painted black and white. The wolf stood on its hind47 legs like a man, but in hight far out-topping any human. He caught a glimpse of the monster as it struck him down with a tomahawk that the beast held in its paws. And that’s the story of the Wolf Demon, who has killed some of the bravest warriors of the Shawnee nation.”
“But what do you think it is?”
“I reckon it’s the devil,” said the renegade, solemnly.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
warrior
|
|
| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
bustle
|
|
| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
strutted
|
|
| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
foes
|
|
| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
literally
|
|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
sinewy
|
|
| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
scouts
|
|
| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
Forsaken
|
|
| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
stoutly
|
|
| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
moodily
|
|
| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
anguish
|
|
| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
wail
|
|
| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
lodge
|
|
| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
hue
|
|
| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
hatchet
|
|
| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
clotted
|
|
| adj.凝结的v.凝固( clot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
owls
|
|
| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
demon
|
|
| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
consternation
|
|
| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
countenances
|
|
| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
brawny
|
|
| adj.强壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
slashes
|
|
| n.（用刀等）砍( slash的名词复数 )；（长而窄的）伤口；斜杠；撒尿v.挥砍( slash的第三人称单数 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
congealing
|
|
| v.使凝结，冻结( congeal的现在分词 )；（指血）凝结 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
scourge
|
|
| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
haughty
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
lamentation
|
|
| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
wailed
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
omen
|
|
| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
resounded
|
|
| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
dreaded
|
|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
slayer
|
|
| n. 杀人者，凶手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
stunned
|
|
| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
hind
|
|
| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |