THE FLORIDA POCAHOKTAS CONTINUED. 167 



alluded to his offence in comparison ; but the oldest men 

 shook their heads, for the soldier never gave any reason 

 for his neglect, or told whether he was absent or asleep, 

 or how that shameful fate came to pass. 



" He alluded to his wife, calling her by name, when a 

 step without the ring drew all eyes in that direction. Yah- 

 chilane stood hi front of her husband, as beautiful as a pan- 

 ther. She tore off from her shoulder an embroidered sash, 

 which is worn by the married women of the tribe to 

 support their infants at their back, and which is the dis- 

 tinguishing badge of the matron among the Appala- 

 chians, and tossing it in the circle, it fell at the feet of 

 her husband. She never said a word, but her steady eye 

 was on the Spaniard, and it did not fail in its effect, for a 

 tremor passed over his frame, so that the links in his mail 

 rattled together ; and all the chiefs, and all the women of 

 the tribe knew that Yahchilane renounced her husband. 



" There was no more doubt in the council. Ortez was 

 condemned to death at daylight, and was led away to 

 confinement. 



"The council fire had burned low in the Apalache 

 village, and the few smoldering brands gleamed among 

 the ashes, or sputtered brief jets of flame and smoke, 

 like the smoldering passions that tossed the sleepers 

 strewn around in the open cabins, still dreaming of the 

 stirring events of the day. The sentinels by the fort 

 walked backward and forward, or leaned on their thin 

 lances tipped with the spikes of deer's horn, tasting in 

 anticipation the savage pleasures of the execution of the 



