admitted the superiority of the strangers, over the less
brilliant attractions of the Dahcotah maidens, she had seen no reason, to
deprecate their advantages. The visit that she was now about to receive was the
first which her husband had made to the tent since his return from the recent
inroad, and he was ever present to her thoughts, as a successful warrior, who
was not ashamed, in the moments of inaction, to admit the softer feelings of a
father and a husband.
    We have every where endeavored to show, that, while Mahtoree was in all
essentials a warrior of the Prairies, he was much in advance of his people, in
those acquirements which announce the dawnings of civilization. He had held
frequent communion with the traders and troops of the Canadas, and the
intercourse had unsettled many of those wild opinions which were his
birth-right, without perhaps substituting any others, of a nature sufficiently
definite to be profitable. His reasoning was rather subtle than true and his
philosophy far more audacious than profound. Like thousands of more enlightened
beings who fancy they are able to go through the trials of human existence
without any other support than their own resolutions, his morals were
accommodating, and his motive, selfish. These several characteristics will be
understood always with reference to the situation of the Indian, though little
apology is needed for finding resemblances between men who essentially possess
the same nature, however it may be modified by circumstances.
    Notwithstanding the presence of Inez and Ellen the entrance of the Teton
warrior into the lodge of his favorite wife was made with the tread and mien of
a master. The step of his moccasin was noiseless, but the rattling of his
bracelets and of the silver ornaments of his leggings, sufficed to announce his
approach, as he push'd aside the skin covering of the opening of the tent, and
stood in the presence of its inmates. A faint cry of pleasure burst from the
lips of Tachechana, but the emotion was instantly suppressed in that subdued
demeanor which better became a matron of her tribe. Instead of returning the
stolen glance of his youthful, and secretly rejoicing wife, Mahtoree mov'd to
the couch occupied by his prisoners, and placed himself at his ease, before them
in the haughty upright attitude of an Indian chief. The old man had glided past
him, and already taken a position suited to the office he had been commanded to
fill.
    Surprise kept the females silent and nearly breathless. Though accustomed to
the sight of savage warriors, in the horrid panoply of their profession, there
was something so startling in the entrance, and so audacious