Rocky Mountains, 329 



which they did not seem forward in offering to him. The 

 two companions arrived at the village of the enemy, and 

 were so incautious in their approaches to it, as to be discov- 

 ered by the inhabitants, who sallied out upon them, and suc- 

 ceeded in wounding them both. The tortoise at length 

 reached the village, and was also discovered, but had the 

 additional misfortune of being taken prisoner. 



To punish him for his presumption, the enemy resolved to 

 put him to death, in such a manner as would be most painful 

 to him. They accordingly threatened him successively with 

 a number of different forms of torture, such as baking in hot 

 embers, boiling, &c, with each of which the captive artfully 

 expressed his entire satisfaction. They finally proposed, to 

 drown him, and this mode of punishment being so earnestly 

 protested against by the tortoise, they determined to carry 

 it into immediate execution. 



With this view, several of the enemy carried him out into 

 a deep part of the river, and threw him in. 



The tortoise, thus released, and, through the ignorance of 

 the captors of the art of torturing, abandoned to an element 

 in which he could act freely and with much power, dived 

 down from their view, and rising again, dragged two or 

 three of them under water successively, and scalped them. 

 Then rising above the surface of the water, he exhibited 

 the scalps triumphantly to the enemy, who stood in crowds 

 upon the bank of the river unable to injure him. Content 

 with his fortunate achievement, the tortoise now journeyed 

 homeward, and on arriving at his lodge, he found there the 

 bull and ant both in bed, groaning piteously with their 

 wounds. 



Upon the reality of such stories many of the auditors seem 

 to rely with implicit faith, particularly as their occurrence is 

 referred to the chronology of former times, by such a prefa- 

 tory notice as " once upon a time." The narrator proceeds 

 with a degree of gravity of feature suitable to the nature of 



vol. i. 42 



