eBooks Base 2000

"I was telling you, Robert, a while ago," he said, "that Indians mostly
have a lot of time, but I'm afraid the band that's cornered us here has
got too much. They may send out a warrior or two to hunt, and the others
may sit at a distance and wait a week for us to come out. At least it
looks that way to a 'possum up a tree. What do you think of it, Tayoga?"
"The Great Bear is right," replied the Onondaga. "He is always right
when he is not wrong."
"Come now, Tayoga, are you making game of me?"
"Not so, my brother, because the Great Bear is nearly always right and
very seldom wrong. It is given only to Manitou never to be wrong."
"That's better, Tayoga. If I can keep up a high average of accuracy I'm
satisfied."
Tayoga's English was always precise and a trifle bookish, like that of a
man speaking a language he has learned in a school, which in truth was
the case with the Onondaga. Like the celebrated Thayendanegea, the
Mohawk, otherwise known as Joseph Brant, he had been sent to a white
school and he had learned the English of the grammarian.


Pages:
92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116