A warrior of no renown, a hunter so
indifferent as to compel his squaw and pappooses often to beg for
food in strange lodges, of mean presence, and a drunkard, it may
seem extraordinary that the Weasel should possess any influence amid
so many chiefs renowned for courage, wisdom, deeds in arms, on the
hunt, and for services around the council-fire. It was all due to
his tongue. Ungque, or the Weasel, was eloquent in a high degree--
possessing that variety of his art which most addresses itself to
the passions; and, strange as it may seem, men are oftener and more
easily led by those who do little else than promise, than by those
who actually perform. A lying and fluent tongue becomes a power of
itself, with the masses; subverting reason, looking down justice,
brow-beating truth, and otherwise placing the wrong before the
right. This quality the Weasel possessed in a high degree, and was
ever willing to use, on occasions that seemed most likely to defeat
the wishes of those he hated. Among the last was Peter, whose known
ascendancy in his own particular tribe had been a source of great
envy and uneasiness to this Indian. He had struggled hard to resist
it, and had even dared to speak in favor of the pale-faces, and in
opposition to the plan of cutting them all off, purely with a
disposition to oppose this mysterious stranger.
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