[Exeunt.
Scene II.—A Desart.
Enter Orsbourn and Honnyman, Two English Hunters.
Orsbourn. Long have we toil’d, and rang’d the woods in vain;
No Game, nor Track, nor Sign of any Kind
Is to be seen; I swear I am discourag’d
And weary’d out with this long fruitless Hunt.
No Life on Earth besides is half so hard,
So full of Disappointments, as a Hunter’s:
Each Morn he wakes he views the destin’d Prey,
And counts the Profits of th’ ensuing Day;
Each Ev’ning at his curs’d ill Fortune pines,
And till next Day his Hope of Gain resigns.
By Jove, I’ll from these Desarts hasten home,
And swear that never more I’ll touch a Gun.
Honnyman. These hateful Indians kidnap all the Game.
Curse their black Heads! they fright the Deer and Bear,
And ev’ry Animal that haunts the Wood,
Or by their Witchcraft conjure them away.
No Englishman can get a single Shot,
While they go loaded home with Skins and Furs.
’Twere to be wish’d not one of them survived,
Thus to infest the World, and plague Mankind.
Curs’d Heathen Infidels! mere savage Beasts!
They don’t deserve to breathe in Christian Air,
And should be hunted down like other Brutes.
Orsbourn. I only wish the Laws permitted us
To hunt the savage Herd where-e’er they’re found;
I’d never leave the Trade of Hunting then,
While one remain’d to tread and range the Wood.
Honnyman. Curse on the Law, I say, that makes it Death
To kill an Indian, more than to kill a Snake.
What if ’tis Peace? these Dogs deserve no Mercy;
They kill’d my Father and my eldest Brother,
Since which I hate their very Looks and Name.
Orsbourn. And I, since they betray’d and kill’d my Uncle;
Tho’ these are not the same, ’twould ease my Heart
To cleave their painted Heads, and spill their Blood.
I do abhor, detest, and hate them all,
And now cou’d eat an Indian’s Heart with Pleasure.
Honnyman. I’d join you, and soop his savage Brains for Sauce;
I lose all Patience when I think of them,
And, if you will, we’ll quickly have amends
For our long Travel and successless Hunt,
And the sweet Pleasure of Revenge to boot.