The Prairie

CHAPTER ONE.

THE ALARM.

Whitewing was a Red Indian of the North American prairies. Though not a
chief of the highest standing, he was a very great man in the estimation
of his tribe, for, besides being possessed of qualities which are highly
esteemed among all savages--such as courage, strength, agility, and the
like--he was a deep thinker, and held speculative views in regard to the
Great Manitou (God), as well as the ordinary affairs of life, which
perplexed even the oldest men of his tribe, and induced the younger men
to look on him as a profound mystery.

Indeed the feelings of the latter towards Whitewing amounted almost to
veneration, for while, on the one hand, he was noted as one of the most
fearless among the braves, and a daring assailant of that king of the
northern wilderness, the grizzly bear, he was, on the other hand, modest
and retiring--never boasted of his prowess, disbelieved in the principle
of revenge, which to most savages is not only a pleasure but a duty, and
refused to decorate his sleeves or leggings with the scalp-locks of his
enemies. Indeed he had been known to allow more than one enemy to
escape from his hand in time of war when he might easily have killed
him. Altogether, Whitewing was a monstrous puzzle to his fellows, and
much beloved by many of them.

The only ornament which he allowed himself was the white wing of a
ptarmigan. Hence his name. This symbol of purity was bound to his
forehead by a band of red cloth wrought with the quills of the
porcupine. It had been made for him by a dark-eyed girl whose name was
an Indian word signifying "light heart." But let it not be supposed
that Lightheart's head was like her heart. On the contrary, she had a
good sound brain, and, although much given to laughter, jest, and
raillery among her female friends, would listen with unflagging
patience, and profound solemnity, to her lover's soliloquies in
reference to things past, present, and to come.

One of the peculiarities of Whitewing was that he did not treat women as
mere slaves or inferior creatures. His own mother, a wrinkled, brown
old thing resembling a piece of singed shoe-leather, he loved with a
tenderness not usual in North American Indians, some tribes of whom have
a tendency to forsake their aged ones, and leave them to perish rather
than be burdened with them. Whitewing also thought that his betrothed
was fit to hold intellectual converse with him, in which idea he was not
far wrong.