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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851

"Oak Openings"

"Know Pottawattamie--know
all chief. Nobody touch canoe of Onoah when he say don't touch him."
"Yet they are Injins of the British, and I see you here in company
with a soldier of Uncle Sam."
"No matter; Onoah go just where he please. Sometime to
Pottawattamie; sometime to Iroquois. All Ojebways know Onoah. All
Six Nation know him well. All Injin know him. Even Cherokee know him
now, and open ears when he speak. Muss cross river, and shake hand
with Crowsfeather."
There was nothing boastful, or vaunting, in Peter's manner while he
thus announced his immunity or power, but he alluded to it in a
quiet, natural way, like one accustomed to being considered a
personage of consequence. Mankind, in general, make few allowances
for the influence of habit; the sensibilities of the vainglorious
themselves being quite as often wounded by the most natural and
direct allusions of those who enjoy advantages superior to their
own, as by those that are intended to provoke comparisons. In the
present instance, however, no such feeling could exist, the Indian
asserting no more than his extended reputation would fully maintain.
When Peter had thus expressed himself, the missionary thought it
meet to add a few words in explanation.


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