A man is
not a stone. We can all feel, and when we have done all that is in
our power, no one can do more. It is so with Injins; we think it
must be so with pale-faces. We mean to try and see how it is."
The corporal understood very little of this harangue, though he
perfectly comprehended the preparations of the saplings, and Bough
of the Oak's allusions to THEM. He was in a cold sweat at the
thought, for resolute as he was, he foresaw sufferings that human
fortitude could hardly endure. In this state of the case, and in the
frame of mind he was in, he had recourse to an expedient of which he
had often heard, and which he thought might now be practised to some
advantage. It was to open upon the savages with abuse, and to
exasperate them, by taunts and sarcasm, to such a degree as might
induce some of the weaker members of the tribe to dispatch him on
the spot. As the corporal, with the perspective of the saplings
before his eyes, manifested a good deal of ingenuity on this
occasion, we shall record some of his efforts.
"D'ye call yourselves chiefs and warriors?" he began, upon a pretty
high key. "I call ye squaws! There is not a man among ye.
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