第24章

Henry glanced at Timmendiquas.The nostrils of the great White Lightning were twitching.The song reached to the very roots of his being, and aroused all his powers.Like Thayendanegea, he was a statesman, and he saw that the Americans were far more formidable to his race than English or French had ever been.The Americans were upon the ground, and incessantly pressed upon the red man, eye to eye.Only powerful leagues like those of the Iroquois could withstand them.

Thayendanegea sat down, and then there was another silence, a period lasting about two minutes.These silences seemed to be a necessary part of all Iroquois rites.When it closed two young warriors stretched an elm bark rope across the room from east to west and near the ceiling, but between the high chiefs and the minor chiefs.Then they hung dressed skins all along it, until the two grades of chiefs were hidden from the view of each other.

This was the sign of mourning, and was followed by a silence.

The fires in the Long House had died down somewhat, and little was to be seen but the eyes and general outline of the people.

Then a slender man of middle years, the best singer in all the Iroquois nation, arose and sang:

To the great chiefs bring we greeting, All hail! All hail! All hail!

To the dead chiefs, kindred greeting, All hail! All hail! All hail!

To the strong men 'round him greeting, All hail! All hail! All hail!

To the mourning women greeting, All hail! All hail! All hail!

There our grandsires' words repeating, All hail! All hail! All hail!

Graciously, Oh, grandsires, hear, All hail! All hail! All hail!

The singing voice was sweet, penetrating, and thrilling, and the song was sad.At the pauses deep murmurs of sorrow ran through the crowd in the Long House.Grief for the dead held them all.

When he finished, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, holding in his hands three belts of wampum, uttered a long historical chant telling of their glorious deeds, to which they listened patiently.The chant over, he handed the belts to an attendant, who took them to Thayendanegea, who held them for a few moments and looked at them gravely.

One of the wampum belts was black, the sign of mourning; another was purple, the sign of war; and the third was white, the sign of peace.They were beautiful pieces of workmanship, very old.

When Hiawatha left the Onondagas and fled to the Mohawks he crossed a lake supposed to be the Oneida.While paddling along he noticed that man tiny black, purple, and white shells clung to his paddle.Reaching the shore he found such shells in long rows upon the beach, and it occurred to him to use them for the depiction of thought according to color.He strung them on threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league was formed, the shells were made to represent five clasped hands.

For four hundred years the wampum belts have been sacred among the Iroquois.

Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant, who returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk.There was a silence once more, and then the chosen singer began the Consoling Song again, but now he did not sing it alone.Two hundred male voices joined him, and the time became faster.Its tone changed from mourning and sorrow to exultation and menace.Everyone thought of war, the tomahawk, and victory.The song sung as it was now became a genuine battle song, rousing and thrilling.The Long House trembled with the mighty chorus, and its volume poured forth into the encircling dark woods.

All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, stood holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave them to an attendant, who carried them to another head chief.

Thayendanegea now went to the center of the room and, standing between the two fires, asked who were the candidates for the places of the dead chiefs.

The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen among their own tribes, came forward to succeed them.Then a fourth came, and Henry was startled.It was Timmendiquas, who, as the bravest chief of the brave Wyandots, was about to become, as a signal tribute, and as a great sign of friendship, an adopted son and honorary chief of the Mohawks, Keepers of the Western Gate, and most warlike of all the Iroquois tribes.

As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval deeper than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in the Long House, and it was deepest on the women's benches, where sat many matrons of the Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a woman could be a chief among the Iroquois.

The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened in grave silence.With his address the sacred part of the rite was concluded.Nothing remained now but the great banquet outside - although that was much - and they poured forth to it joyously, Thayendanegea, the Mohawk, and Timmendiquas, the Wyandot, walking side by side, the finest two red chiefs on all the American continent.