“No,” he said, glad to rely on his sturdy veracity; “I would not turn the other cheek.”
“And this,” cried Rolloweh, addressing the assemblage with sudden passion, “the forked tongue of this old serpent of the provinces”—he waved his hand at arm’s length toward the missionary, “teaches is religion for the Cherokee. Not for the British! The religion that has been the same road till now branches with a white, smooth path for the British, and a bloody, rocky, dark path for the Cherokee.”
A visible sensation swayed the crowd. The Indians exchanged glances of doubt, surprise, excitement, or triumph as the individual sentiment of congratulation or disappointment or indignation predominated. The soldiers looked at one another in dismay. Captain Howard, fairly ambushed, hardly knew which way to turn. Only the missionary stood unmoved, still gazing smilingly, indulgently, at the officer who had begun to fear that he had unwittingly compassed the old man’s ruin.
“Did the Capteny ever see any other Christian Briton who was struck and who turned the other cheek?”—Rolloweh demanded, pushing his advantage. Even the interpreter’s voice faltered as he put the query into English.
Captain Howard was minded to vouchsafe no reply. He had already been entrapped, it was true, through too anxious a desire to placate the savages, to conserve the peace of the frontier, and save the life of the old missionary. He might have done harm, rather than good, so impossible was it to forecast the event under circumstances so unprecedented. Then he resolutely swallowed his pride. The safety of his men was his primal consideration.
“No,” he replied, albeit a trifle sullenly, “I never saw a Christian struck who turned the other cheek.”
Rolloweh rose, with a fierce smile, bending to the crowd, waving both arms with the palms outward.
“If a man took your cloak, O Christian Capteny, would you give him your coat also?” he demanded.
“No,” snarled the Christian captain, “I’d give him a beating.”
There was a guttural sarcastic laugh around the square, ceasing as Rolloweh resumed: