"Oh, Hawenneyu," he exclaimed, "and you, too, of the Honochenokeh, have you permitted Tawannears to escape all these perils, to obtain his Lost Soul, and abandoned him at the end to Hanegoategeh? See, Tawannears calls upon you for aid. And upon you of the Deohako, Three Sisters of Sustenance, Our Supporters! Tawannears calls upon you by right.
"Will you desert him when he has toiled and suffered so? Will you desert his white brothers who have been loyal through dangers no men ever dared before? Will you desert the Lost Soul who has been true to him in death, who returns with him from the land beyond the sunset, she who has traversed the Halls of Haniskaonogeh, the Dwelling-place of Evil, she who has passed with us through the lodge of Gaoh, lord of the winds, she who has defied Hanegoategeh?
"Oh, Tharon the Sky-holder, Tawannears calls upon you to uphold him! But if death must come, then, oh, Hawenneyu, let Tawannears and his Lost Soul die together! Let the white brothers go with us to the Halls of the Honochenokeh! Let us take with us the spirits of many warriors! Grant us a good death, oh, Hawenneyu!"
I am a Christian, but I thrilled to that prayer, and I called out—"Yo-hay!" after the manner of the People of the Long House.
Kachina notched an arrow, and loosed it into the air.
"Whatever the gods say, we fight!" she said. "We fight where the arrow falls."
It quivered into the sod a hundred yards in front of us just under the crest of the swell.
"Ja, dot's as goodt a place as any," Peter agreed equably. "Andt now we fight, eh?"
We trotted up to the arrow and clustered around it as the flanking party of the attackers galloped over the crest between us and the river. They whooped their delight upon seeing they had headed us, and a warrior commenced to ride his pony in furious circles to signal the main body they had us at bay, whilst the rest raced back to engage us. In five minutes they had strung a ring and were drawing in closer and closer toward bowshot distance.
Of all the tribes we had seen these men were the handsomest and most imposing. Tall, broad-shouldered, their bronze bodies shining with grease, they sat their pad-saddles, stirrupless, as though they were part of the horses under them. Their heads were shaven, except for a narrow ridge from forehead to scalplock, which was stiffened with paint and grease until it stood erect in semblance of a horn. Their faces were fierce, but intelligent. They proved their reckless valor by the way they overwhelmed us.