108 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



was driven in her breast, so deep that the point came out behind, 

 between her shoulders. 



" Hardly had the news been told, before a young warrior came 

 rushing into town with a tale, whose horror exceeded even the 

 crime of murder. 



" It appeared that the relief-guard that went out early in the 

 morning to take the place of Ortez, at the tomb of the dead 

 chieftain, found the Spaniard absent from his post. On coming to 

 the scaffolding they discovered the canoe overturned, and the body 

 of Wealuste dragged out and mutilated by some wild beast. 

 Depth of all disgrace ! the face that had fronted a hundred battles 

 had been mutilated by a carrion wolf. Where was now the soul 

 of the chieftain in the shadowy land? What great doom was 

 hovering over his people for this neglect ? 



" As the warriors wondered and mourned, and hastily gathered 

 up the body of their dead, Ortez was seen coming back from the 

 woods, dragging the body of a huge black wolf. The animal, while 

 making off with its prey, had been pursued by the soldier, 

 wounded with an arrow, and killed with a dagger, after severely 

 tearing the arm of his antagonist. Ortez could give no explana- 

 tion of how the animal had succeeded in mounting the scaffold, 

 unobserved, or what he himself was doing during the scene of 

 sacrilege. The fault was fearful, and the Spaniard was bound and 

 dragged back to the village. Again he was the outcast criminal, 

 chained and reviled. Now, all the suspicious spirits that mis- 

 trusted his prosperity gloated over his fall, and reviled him. They 

 called up every misdeed that had come to their knowledge. They 

 cited his Spanish origin ; and reasoned, that because he was one of 

 their natural enemies, the comrade of Narvaez, and the country- 

 man of Velasquez, therefore he had permitted this unpardonable 

 sin, and brought down the anger of the Great Spirit on the tribe. 



"Justice is not slow of foot among simple people, and that 

 evening, while the young mistress of the soldier was wrapped in 

 fawn skins, and sewed in palmetto leaves for her long sleep, her 

 lover was brought to trial before the chiefs of the village. 



" The fire of loblolly pine climbed up in the air, and lit the 

 scene with the whiteness of noon. The bamboo and grass cot- 



