"Get ye hence, women!" said another chief. "We are not soft as water, to be turned in what course ye will: we are the children of the Stone, and our heart is the rock."
"Be it so, then!" cried Black Eagle's sister. "Look upon us now, oh chiefs! We are here, your mothers, your sisters, your daughters, your wives; those ye love best, those who best love you. See, now, what we are commanded to do by the voice of the Good Spirit. If ye slay the youth, ye slay us. Every lodge shall be left desolate; there shall be wailing through the village and through the land. Now, my sisters, if their heart be a stone, let our heart be soft, and let the knife find it easily!"
As she spoke, every mantle was thrown back, and every arm was raised, and in every hand was seen the gleam of a knife.
Black Eagle covered his eyes with his mantle, but sat still. Walter sprang across and cast himself at the feet of Otaitsa, exclaiming: "Hold! hold! For God's sake, hold, my Blossom!"
"Back! back!" cried the girl, vehemently. "If thou diest, I die!"
"All! all!" said the women, in the same determined tone.
At the same moment the old priest rose and stretched forth his hands. "It is the voice of the Great Spirit!" he exclaimed, in the tone of one inspired. "He speaks to us by their tongue; he tells us to forbear! The deed is evil in his sight; we must not do it! The blood of our brother is atoned--it is the voice of the Great Spirit!"
"It is the voice of the Great Spirit--it is the voice of the Great Spirit!" exclaimed each of the chiefs, and Black Eagle, casting from him the tomahawk, took Walter in his arms, saying, in a low voice, "My son! my son!"
Otaitsa took a step forward toward them, but before she reached her father her sight grew dim and she fell at his feet.[[3]]