It was evident to le Bourdon, at a glance, that Peter was expected,
though it was not quite so clear that such was the fact as regarded
his companion. Still, respect for the great chief prevented any
manifestations of surprise or discontent, and the medicine-man of
the pale-faces was received with as grave a courtesy as if he had
been an invited guest. Just as the two had entered the dark circle
that formed around them, a young chief threw some dry sticks on the
fire, which blazing upward, cast a stronger light on a row of as
terrifically looking countenances as ever gleamed on human forms.
This sudden illumination, with its accompanying accessories, had the
effect to startle all the white spectators, though Peter looked on
the whole with a calm like that of the leafless tree, when the cold
is at its height, and the currents of the wintry air are death-like
still Nothing appeared to move HIM, whether expected or not; though
use had probably accustomed his eye to all the aspects in which
savage ingenuity could offer savage forms. He even smiled, as he
made a gesture of recognition, which seemed to salute the whole
group. It was just then, when the fire burned brightest, and when
the chiefs pressed most within its influence, that le Bourdon
perceived that his old acquaintances, the head-men of the
Pottawattamies, were present, among the other chiefs so strangely
and portentously assembled in these grounds, which he had so long
possessed almost entirely to himself.
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