A shriek from the dauntless that come never again.
Up, up to the battle, but never a blow!
Up, up to the battle, but never a foe!”
The chiefs exchanged looks of doubt and surprise. The more cautious would have forced him again before them, but the sagamore declared the omens were for good, and directed to start upon their way. At once the two hundred were to be seen threading their way to the river-side, where the canoes were manned. Here we must leave them, now hugging the shore to avoid observation, and now boldly breasting the waters of the stormy sea. Headlands were crossed, not doubled, the warriors shouldering the canoes at “carrying-places,” which greatly abridged the distance, the hazards, and the labors of the way.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SNAKE VS. SPIDER.
Acashee, astute, cautious and devoid of all personal fear, was not without a certain natural power over her tribe, which regarded her with some degree of religious awe, inferior in extent but not unakin to that which lent a halo to the brow of the unfortunate Hope Vines.
Acashee was skillful in all the incantations, dances, and magic of her people, and did not scruple to work upon their terrors, or to turn all their faith in her to her own account.
The chamber under the great falls was kept a secret from the people at large, being used mostly for religious purposes, or in periods of great extremity as a last rallying point of the chiefs of the tribe; hence, comparatively few were acquainted with the place of retreat of Acashee, when she retired from the council, and waved back the women who would have importuned her with surmises.
Having plunged under the jutting water, she arose in a gorgeous room, hung with pendants of crystal, and furnished with sacred altars, fashioned in the long ages by that instinct of nature which leads her to indicate in solitary grottos and overhanging woods that intuitive need of worship which is the characteristic of our humanity, even in its rudest shape.