Ticonderoga: A Story of Early Frontier Life in the Mohawk Valley

by G. P. R. James

"The medicine man has spoken, and he has explained the law; but he has counseled with words contrary to the law. The medicine man has the law in his heart, but his words are the words of foxes. He has not unfolded the roll of the law into which the words of the Manitou were whispered; but he says truly that we are to shed the blood of the murderer of our brother, to appease his spirit. If we cannot find him, we are to shed the blood of some one of his many kindred; if we cannot find one of them, the blood of one of his nation; but have ye sought for the murderer, ye brethren of the Snake? Can ye say that ye have tried to catch him? Have ye had time? Will your brother who is gone be contented with the blood of the first paleface ye can find, when ye might find the real murderer? Will he lap, like the dog, at the first pool in his way? Will he not rather say, 'Give us the sweet water that only can allay our thirst? Would ye sing in our ears, and make us believe music? This is not the blood of him who shed our blood. This is not the blood of his kindred. The happy hunting grounds will not open to us for this blood.' Oneidas, it is the medicine man beguiles you from the customs of your fathers. They say, 'Wait till ye have searched diligently. Make sure that ye offer the best atonement that ye can. Do not kill the fox because the panther has mangled the game. Do not shoot the oriole for the thing that the hawk has done. The son of my brother Prevost is no kin of the Yengee who slew the brother of the Snake. His blood will not atone if ye can find other blood more friendly to the murderer. The eyes of the Manitou are over all; he sees that ye have not sought as ye should seek."

Some moments after he had spoken, but with a less interval than had hitherto occurred between any of the speeches, a fierce-looking young warrior arose and exclaimed:

"Let him die! Why should we wait? The Woodchuck is safe in the land of the Yengees. He has taken himself far from the arrow of the Oneida. There is a cloud between us and him, and we cannot see through it. The Woodchuck has no kindred. He has often declared so when he sat by the fire and talked of the deeds he has done. He has boasted that he was a man alone; that his father was hay and his mother grass, and the hemlock and the oak his brothers and his sisters. Neither him can we find, nor any of his kin; but we have taken what was nearest to him--his friend, and the son of his friend. This is the blood that will appease the spirit of our brother. Let him die, and die quickly. Does the Black Eagle ask if this boy was his friend? The Black Eagle knows he was; but moreover, it may be that he himself was the companion of the murderer even when he killed our brother. They went forth together to seek some prey. Was it not the redman that the wolves hunted? They killed a panther and a man when they went forth together. That we know, for there were eyes of redmen near. The blood of our brother was licked up by the earth. The skin of the panther was sent by this boy (our captive) to Otaitsa, the daughter of the Black Eagle. I took it from the runner this very day. The man who brought it is near at hand. The skin is here. I have said." And he threw the panther's skin down before him, almost into the flame of the fire.

A buzzing murmur ran round the Indians, and the keen mind of the Black Eagle soon perceived that the danger of poor Walter Prevost was greatly heightened.

"Let the law be announced to us," he said. "The roll of the law is here, but let it not be read by the tongue of a fox. Let the man of ancient times read it. Let the warrior and the priest who kept it for so many years now tell us what it ordains, according to the interpretation of the old days, and not according to the rashness of boys, who would be chiefs long before a scalp hangs at the door of their lodge. I can see," he cried, in a loud voice, starting up from his seat, and waving his arm, as if some strong emotion overpowered his habitual calmness, "I can see the time coming when the intemperance of youth and the want of respect for age and for renown will bring low the power of the Oneidas, will crush the greatness of the Five Nations into dust. So long as age and counsel were reverenced they were a mighty people, and the scalps of their enemies were brought from every battlefield. They were a wise people, for they listened to the voice of experience, and they circumvented their enemies. But now the voices of boys and striplings prevail. They take presents, and they sell themselves for baubles. They drink the firewater till they are no more men, till reason has departed, and courage and strength are not in them. They use the lightning, and they play with the thunder; but the tomahawk and the scalping knife are green rushes in their hands. Let the law be announced, then; let it be announced by the voice of age and wisdom; and let us abide by his words, for they are good."

Thus saying, he stepped across the little chasm which lay between him and the second speaker on this occasion, and took up a heavy roll which lay beside the priest or medicine man. It consisted of innumerable strings of shells sawn into long strips, like the pendants of an earring, and stained of three separate colors--black, red, and white. These were disposed in various curious groups, forming no regular pattern, but yet not without order; and so many were there in this roll that, though each was very small, the weight of the whole could not have been less than twenty or thirty pounds. Thus loaded, and bearing this burden with the appearance of great reverence, Black Eagle carried the roll half way round the circle and laid it upon the knees of a man evidently far advanced in life, although his shorn head and long white scalp-lock showed to an Indian eye, at least, that he still judged himself fit to accompany the warriors of the tribe to battle.

The chief then slowly resumed his seat, and once more profound silence spread over the assembly. The eyes of all were, it is true, directed toward the old man whose exposition of their laws and customs was to be final; but not a limb stirred, and even the very eagerness of their gaze was subdued into a look of tranquil attention, except in the case of the young man who had spoken so vehemently, and whose relationship as a brother of the slain Indian excused, in the sight of the tribe, a good deal of unwonted agitation.

For some two minutes after receiving the roll the old priest remained motionless, with his eyes raised toward the flame that still towered up before him, licking and scorching the branches of a hemlock tree above. But at length his fingers began to move amongst the carved shells, and, unloosing rapidly some thongs by which the roll was bound, he spread out the seemingly tangled mass in fair order. Then, bending down his head, he seemed to listen, as if for a voice.

"The law of the Oneidas cannot change," he said, at length. "It is the will of Hawaneyoh, the Great Spirit. A white man must die for the blood spilt by a white man; but the spiller of the blood must be sought for, or our brother will still be shut out from the happy hunting grounds. Listen not to the song of singing birds against the young man, thou brother of the Snake. Neither do thou make trouble in the Five Nations because the blossom of the Black Eagle's tree cannot be reached by thy hand."

The open allusion to that which he thought was one of the deep secrets of his bosom, was too much for even the Indian stoicism of the brother of the Snake, and he drew his blanket or mantle over his chest as if to hide what was within. Black Eagle, however, though probably taken as much by surprise as anyone by the old man's words, remained perfectly unmoved, not a change of expression even appearing upon his rigid features, though the speaker paused for a whole minute, as if to let what he had said produce its full effect.