The
self-command of the Tribeless, however, was great, and he so far
succeeded in suppressing the volcano that was raging within, as to
speak with his usual dignity and an entire calmness of exterior.
"My brothers have heard what the medicine-man had to say," Peter
commenced. "He has told them that which was new to them. He has told
them an Indian is not an Indian. That a red man is a pale-face, and
that we are not what we thought we were. It is good to learn. It
makes the difference between the wise and the foolish. The palefaces
learn more than the red-skins. That is the way they have learned how
to get our hunting-grounds. That is the way they have learned to
build their villages on the spots where our fathers killed the deer.
That is the way they have learned how to come and tell us that we
are not Indians, but Jews. I wish to learn. Though old, my mind
craves to know more. That I may know more, I will ask this medicine-
man questions, and my brothers can open their ears, and learn a
little, too, by what he answers. Perhaps we shall believe that we
are not red-skins, but pale-faces. Perhaps we shall believe that our
true hunting-grounds are not near the great lakes of sweet water,
but under the rising sun.
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