When this last operation was performed, it was found that
the Chippewa did not heedlessly vaunt the quality of his prize. What
was more, so accurately had he calculated the time, and the means of
subsistence in the possession of the fugitives, that his supply came
in just as it was most needed. In all this he manifested no more
than the care of an experienced and faithful hunter. Next to the
war-path, the hunting-ground is the great field for an Indian's
glory; deeds and facts so far eclipsing purely intellectual
qualifications with savages, as to throw oratory, though much
esteemed by them, and wisdom at the Council Fires, quite into the
shade. In all this, we find the same propensity among ourselves. The
common mind, ever subject to these impulses, looks rather to such
exploits as address themselves to the senses and the imagination,
than to those qualities which the reason alone can best appreciate;
and in this, ignorance asserts its negative power over all
conditions of life.
Pigeonswing now condescended to enter on such explanations as the
state of the case rendered necessary. His account was sufficiently
clear, and it manifested throughout the sagacity and shrewdness of a
practised hunter and scout.
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