It is his right to be
tormented. We are getting ready, and shall soon begin. If my brother
can tell us a new way of tormenting, we are willing to try it.
Should we not make out as well as pale-faces, my brother will
remember who we are. We mean to do our best, and we hope to make his
heart soft. If we do this, great will be our honor. Should we not do
it, we cannot help it. We shall try."
It was now the corporal's turn to put in a rebutter.
This he did without any failure in will or performance. By this time
he was so well warmed as to think or care very little about the
saplings, and to overlook the pain they might occasion.
"Dogs can do little but bark; 'specially Injin dogs," he said.
"Injins themselves are little better than their own dogs. They can
bark, but they don't know how to bite. You have many great chiefs
here. Some are panthers, and some bears, and some buffaloes; but
where are your weasels? I have fit you now these twenty years, and
never have I known ye to stand up to the baggonet. It's not Injin
natur' to do THAT."
Here the corporal, without knowing it, made some such reproach to
the aboriginal warriors of America as the English used to throw into
the teeth of ourselves--that of not standing up to a weapon which
neither party possessed.
Pages:
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658