"Is it right, Eagle's-Wing, to kill Panther thus, in cold blood? It is a great crime, both by the laws of men and of God."
"Our traditions have not told us so," answered the Tuscarora. "They tell us that we must do so, if we wish to please the Great Spirit."
"But have you never heard of any other tradition? Have you not heard the story of the life and death of the Redeemer of the world, and of the truths that he taught?"
The Indian seemed struck with a sort of consternation, for a moment. He evidently recollected the teaching of the pious missionary of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, who had done so much to give the minds of the Indians of those nations a proper direction, just previous to the Revolutionary struggle. After a short pause, he answered:
"The good missionary from the pale-faces has told us the story; but it was a long while ago; it was before the war between the Colony men and the Yengeese. I have almost forgotten it. If I was a pale-face, I should love it very much. But an Indian must follow the traditions of his fathers."
"I know who you mean, Eagle's-Wing. It was Kirtland who taught you that story. I am sorry that you should so soon have forgotten it. He was a good man and told you the truth. He told you that you must not persecute your enemies; but that you must forgive them, and that the Great Spirit will like you better for it."
"How know that?" asked Eagle's-Wing abruptly, and with a kind of superstitious feeling, that Ruth should be able to repeat the instructions which, in his ignorance, he supposed she could not have understood, without having listened to the missionary, herself. "How know that! That was great many years ago, when the pale-face girl was a child."
"I know that he told you so," replied Ruth, "because he must have told you what the new tradition was. He told you that the Redeemer came down from Heaven, and how he died because he loved all the nations and people of the world; and how he told them that they must all love one another like brothers. Would it not be better, Eagle's-Wing, if all the pale-faces and all the Indians thought so?"
The Tuscarora cast down his eyes, while he answered: "It would be better, if they would think so; but they do not. If the pale-faces do not, how can the Indians think so?"
"It is only the bad men among the pale-faces who think otherwise. There are a great many good men who always act upon this truth. If it would be better for everybody to follow this teaching, it is a good thing for those who do, even if a great many do not. Is it not so, Eagle's-Wing?"