The Land of Bondage: A Romance

by John Bloundelle-Burton

Such was one form of revenge practised by the Indian on the white man, and, alas! there were many others. There was death by fire and death by burying alive, the body being in the earth, the head outside, a prey for the vultures to swoop down upon and to tear to pieces, beginning with the eyes; there was the death of thirst, when the victim sat gasping in the hot sun while all around him, but beyond his reach, were placed gourds of cool water.

It was to such deaths as these that we had feared our men might come if they fell into the hands of the enemy--the women, be it said, were never subjected to such torture, there were other things reserved for them--it was one of such deaths as these that Roderick St. Amande might now fear if the band believed the denunciation of Anuza.

That they did believe it seemed not open to doubt. They muttered and gesticulated, they hurled opprobrious names at him, they even beat their breasts and bemoaned the disgrace which had fallen on them by being deceived by one who had been a "slave." This, to these free, untrammelled creatures of the forest, seemed the worst of all, far worse even than their having been tricked into believing that he, who was nothing but a poor mortal like themselves, could be a god and the Child of the great Sun God.

Senamee alone seemed to still believe in the villain; he alone at this moment raised his voice on behalf of their denounced priest. Rising to his feet, while his cruel features were convulsed with passion and the great scars upon his face stood out strangely beneath the paint upon it, he addressed the members of his tribe thus:

"Children of my race, warriors of our various bands, listen to me and be not swayed too easily by the voice of Anuza the Bear, the chief who ever opposes me and gnaws at his heart-strings because of my rule and authority." Here the Bear cast a disdainful glance at him, while he went on, "Easy enough are these charges to be made; less easy, however, is the proof of them. Because the Bear has learned now that he has attacked the house of one by whose kin his father was succoured, he has readily lent his ear to the tales told him by the pale faces, all of whom are liars, as we and those who have gone before us know only too well and to our cost. Yet, against such lying tales let us remember what the Child of the Sun has done for us--even before our own eyes, which do not deceive us. He has brought our cattle from the mouth of death, he has caused all our herds to increase tenfold, he has blessed our lands and, where before naught but the serpent and the wolf could live, has made the maize and the corn to grow. Yet we, but mortal men, could do naught like unto this. And has he not ruled the heavens! Rain to refresh the earth has come to us at his bidding; when the moon and the sun have disappeared before our eyes, without cloud to obscure them, he has conjured them back again by waving his hands."

"It requires no sharp eye," muttered Mr. Kinchella to us, "to tell when an eclipse is drawing to an end. If he could have foretold its coming it would have been more wonderful."

"He has made trees and shrubs," went on Senamee, "to grow before our eyes, and objects he held in his hands to vanish away into the air."

"Yes, curse him," now muttered Buck, who, unhappily, rarely spoke without an oath, "I taught him to. I would they had looked under his thumb or up his sleeve."

"And, above all, is it not he who bade us go forward on the warpath towards the home of the pale faces, telling us success should come to us, as it has truly come?"

Once more the Indians were roused, but this time it was towards the adoption of the chief's views. Hating ingratitude as they did, they seemed to think now--judging by the ejaculations of many of them--that there was danger of their testifying it to the medicine chief by turning so suddenly against him. Poor, ignorant savages! 'Twas easy to see that they believed, as doubtless their chief believed, that to this mean creature was owing the fact that their crops and their cattle had thrived so. They could not guess, their simple, unformed minds could not tell them, that it was to their own exertions, suggested by him, and not to his mumblings and gibberish over those crops and cattle, that their increase and fatness was due.