THE FLOBIDA POCAHONTAS. 157 



hail- like a bear's with a mantle of moleskin and gold, 

 and a silent tongue he is alone and a stranger and to- 

 morrow he dies ; and Yahchilane would rather hunt with 

 him in the Happy Land than stay here alone.' 



" When the old chief heard this, he knew what the 

 offering meant ; for it was all of his daughter's goods, 

 and all that she and her maidens had woven through the 

 year. He knew how fast love comes under a tropical 

 sky, where the blood is hot, and how far the wild feeling 

 would cariy an Indian girl. He remembered the days 

 when Yahchilane's mother was a maiden ; and he turned 

 away to his brother chieftains, and left his daughter still 

 bent on the sands. 



" At a summons hastily sent, the warriors came again 

 together, and sat as before around the door of their chief. 

 They kindled a fire, and the flames flashed red over many 

 a reed-covered house over the pickets and lagoons, and 

 the still bowed figure of girl. None looked at the chief's 

 daughter, though all saw her sitting, and wist why she 

 remained ; and then they talked long and slowly, and 

 from mouth to mouth passed the pipe, fringed with eagle 

 feathers and the long beard of the turkey-cock. Hardly 

 w r ould it have fared with the Spaniard if they had con- 

 fined themselves to his deserts for the cruel wars of 

 Narvaez were fresh in their minds, and they remembered 

 Anta, and how their kinsmen had fallen there under the 

 arquebus and the long Spanish blade ; but when they 

 frowned and looked down, they still saw the young girl 

 in her beseeching posture, divested of her robes, with 



