Sergeant Atkins - A Tale Of Adventure Founded On Fact (1870) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: young gopher, which the providence of Abram had provided. Meanwhile the master-spirit who had raised the storm which even he could not now allay, had he desired so to do, with bowed head, and face cunningly hid in the folds of his hunting-shirt, that the people might not see his exultation, slowly left the council-house, and took his way, by one of the numerous cross trails intersecting the plain, to a distant part of the town. CHAPTER III. ITUNWAII. A Celebrated Seminole chief, discoursing upon the peculiarities of his people, once quaintly said, " Indians are like fleas,?put your finger on 'em, and they are not there." There is truth in the remark, however we may understand -it. Nowhere in history do we find accounts of such a remarkable race of savages, who talk so wisely yet act so foolishly, whose movements are so capricious, and whose character is such a singular mixture of good and evil,?the heroic and the abject, the grotesque and the dignified. Not destitute of virtues, the Indian is prone to the lowest vices. He is patient, eloquent, and hospitable ; he has fortitude, courage, and firmness ; but he will lie and steal, and drink to the worst excess, is treacherous, cruel, and ungrateful, untamable as the hyena, and implacable as the viper. 9 A species of land tortoise found in the pine-barrens of Florida. Says Irving, in his Sketch Book, " There is something in the character and habits of the North American savage, taken in connection with the scenery over which he is accustomed to range,?its vast lakes, boundless forests, majestic rivers, and trackless plains,?that is, to my mind, wonderfully striking and sublime. He is formed for the wilderness, as the Arab is for the desert. His nature is stern, simple, and enduring; fitted to grapple with difficultie...