Tawannears

“ Tawannears, his white teeth exposed in a pleasant grin—for, like all Indians, he had a keen sense of humor—sank upon the bearskin rug, and after a moment's hesitation, Corlaer imitated him.
"My brother will not take it amiss if Corlaer and Tawannears slight his chairs?" inquired the Indian in his cadenced, musical English that took on something of the sonorous rhythm of his own tongue. "We forest people are not used to setting our haunches at right angles to our feet. ”

“ Tawannears' medicine is strong. All who oppose him shall perish. But Gahano is safe. Surely, Hawenneyu has us in His keeping that he should visit such destruction upon our enemies! He will send the Honochenokeh to guard us. Tharon the Sky-holder will let the clouds fall upon those who stand in our way. Gaoh will blow the winds against them. Tawannears' orenda will triumph over all! ”

“ Tawannears has honor in his own country."
"That may be," returned The Adder ungraciously. "Here you are unknown."
"And Tawannears is also known in his country as the friend of the white men," continued Tawannears. "He is the friend of these white men here. They came with him to aid him in a search. They are his brothers."
"If they are friends of the Mazzonka who bewitched my young men they shall go away from here," snapped Nadoweiswe, "or I will take their scalps for my new medicine lance."
"What was this white man like?" inquired Tawannears. ”

“ Him we caught, but no sign of intelligence showed on his brutal face as Tawannears put question after question in the Dakota tongue, except when he was asked where lay the seat of Wakanda, the Great Spirit. Whether he caught the meaning of the word or was cunning enough to perceive that we were seeking a certain place, I cannot say, but he lifted his arm and pointed to the Northwest, with a chatter of gibberish that meant nothing to us. So we left him with his wound bound up and enough meat for a day, and departed in the direction he had indicated. ”

“ OUR TRADE WITH THE TONKAWAS
"We hold this ford," replied Tawannears in the same dialect, speaking with arrogant emphasis. The two conducted their conversation after the remarkable fashion of the Plains tribes, the basis of their speech being such Comanche phrases as they had in common, pieced out with Dakota, Pawnee, Arickara, Cheyenne and Siksika, and when they were at a loss for a common vocal ground of understanding reverting to the flexible sign-language, by which they never failed to convey the most complicated meanings. ”

“ But we watched him enthralled, the while the shadows blackened on the mountain's lower flanks and a pink glow flooded the peak around us, shooting a miniature rainbow through the steam-clouds. Tawannears tossed out his arms in one final appeal, proudly, as though he had a right to ask, then turned, with a light of exultation in his eyes, and walked back to us.
"I think Hawenneyu opened His ears to me," he said simply. "My heart that was sad commenced to sing bravely. It grows strong. All fear has left me." ”

“ Nadoweiswe will tell the tale of Tawannears' search to all his young men so that their hearts may be made strong, too. If Nadoweiswe were a young warrior he would offer to go on with Tawannears and his white brothers and look for this strange Land of Lost Souls. But Nadoweiswe is an old man, and he is used to riding on horses; and horses could not climb the Sky Mountains which shut in the sun's hiding-place. ”

“ The stallion whinnied at me, asking reassurance, and I stroked his muzzle.
"It is long coming," said Tawannears.
"Yes," answered Kachina, "and when it is here we shall be fortunate if we can breathe."
Suddenly, the moaning roar became a deafening scream; the blackness mantled the earth like a garment, and we, huddled close to the ground, felt the shock of a great arm sweeping just above our heads. It was the wind. There was no rain, but a shower of objects began to fall against the opposite wall of the gulch. Shapes, indistinct in the mirk, crashed formless into the bed of the rivulet. ”

“ I think Wiki lies when he says I came from Massi. I seem to remember a time many years ago when I often saw people who were white like you. But that does not matter. Tawannears is a man! And I am tired of priests and their ways. Ay, a man who would travel as far as Tawannears for a woman is a man! ”

“ She had discovered a new game, it seemed, which consisted in her pointing to a given object and pronouncing its name in her tongue, and then having Tawannears christen it in the Seneca dialect. She was going into all the details of the ladder and the trail with him—his face a study in rapture and sheepishness—when Wiki called down a sharp command to her. She sobered instantly, and raced up the ladders after the priest, who continued beside her.
The people of Homolobi watched our ascent with grins of amusement. ”

“ Tawannears smiled scornfully.
"That is why I reject your religion, brother. It cannot be complete if it does not include the Indian, for the Indian has a soul as has the white man. But I say again: I promise nothing. I shall seek. Hawenneyu, and Tharon the Sky-holder, will decide if it is best for me to find—as for you, also. Life, brother, is a search. Religion is a struggle. I seek for what I love. I struggle for truth and justice. And I believe that the Great Spirit thinks of the Indian as often as he does of the white man." ”

“ Tawannears caught her hand.
"But see, you who are almost my mother," he said. "I have brought back to you the daughter who was lost to you. We will be son and daughter to you in your loneliness."
Guanaea would not be comforted.
"Who am I to scorn the generosity of Hawenneyu?" she cried. "Who am I to doubt the deeds of great warriors? I am only a woman, only a mother whose offspring left her, only a widow whose man went ahead of her into the land of shadows. Yet I cannot take this new Gahano to my breast. She is not to me as the child I suckled or the maiden whose waywardness I curbed. ”

“ Then, a mile nearer earth's level, stood the timber-line; first, straggling dwarf growths, bent and gnarled and twisted by the winds; behind these the massive bulwark of the primeval forest, stout cedars and cumbrous firs, the least of them fit for main-mast to a King's ship, a green frame for the many-colored miracle of the flower-fields and the white splendor above.
"Do you think to climb higher, brother?" I questioned Tawannears, standing with arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the summit that seemed so near in that radiant atmosphere. ”

“ This time there was no answering growl, and the Tonkawa chief muttered briefly in council with several of his older warriors.
"Why do you come here, then?" he asked bluffly.
"To trade," was Tawannears' prompt response.
"What? We are not traders. You can see we carry only weapons. We have been on a mission of vengeance." His voice swelled boastfully. "The Kansas slew a small hunting-party of our people many moons ago. Three sleeps back we burned their village, and filled our bellies with their blood. Their scalps hang on our lances." ”

“ She cast a sly glance at the Seneca. "I am sure I must have known it once."
"It is a lie," howled Kokyan. "Has he not said that this Lost Soul of his was a maid full-grown when she died? And do we not know that Kachina was a child with new teeth when Wiki brought her to Homolobi?"
"The Great Spirit's ways are not our ways," returned Tawannears steadily. "He may change the maid's years, but he cannot change her face or the Soul that was lost. What are years to Him?"
"Bah!" snarled Kokyan. "Will wise men believe such tales? ”

“ Love and hate, the lure of beauty, hunger for power, these were the factors here as elsewhere. Suppose we had gone north, instead of south, to pass the Salt Lake, suppose we had not ventured into these mountains! What would have happened then to the fortunes of Wiki, of Kachina, of Kokyan and Angwusi and the people of Homolobi—ay, and of Tawannears, Peter and myself. Fifteen hundred lives would have ended differently—I say nothing of the Awataba, who perished for causes beyond their comprehension.
So slender is the thread of destiny which weaves our lives! ”

“ The distorted bodies of a man and a horse lay against the opposite bank of the depression—'twas they, doubtless, had stampeded our mounts. Apparently they had been hurled there by some caprice of the wind. I had a vision, too, of the strained faces of my comrades—Peter's little eyes very wide, Kachina's hair all tumbled about her face, Tawannears grimly watchful. Then darkness again, and the steady, monotonous roar of the wind, no thing of puffs or gusts, but a stupendous, overpowering blast of sheer strength that no living being could stand up to. ”

“ The hunters stood and blasphemed, and even for a moment seemed inclined to resent the mistake. But Tavannes smiled; a broader smile lightened the faces of the six iron-clad men behind him; and for some reason the gang of ruffians thought better of it and slunk aside.
There are hard men, who feel scorn of the things which in the breasts of others excite pity. Tavannes’ lip curled as he rode on through the streets, looking this way and that, and seeing what a King twenty-two years old had made of his capital. ”

“ Mark Twain has made us acquainted with the verdant solitude of the Tuolumne hills, that dreamy, delicious paradise where once a vast population had gathered when placer-mining had been in its bloom, a dozen years before. The human swarm had scattered when the washings failed to pay, leaving only a quiet emptiness and the few pocket-miners along the Stanislaus and among the hills. ”

“ As Tavannes, after leaving Mademoiselle, rode through the paved lanes, beneath the gabled houses, and under the shadow of the Gothic spires of his day, he saw a score of sights, moving to pity, or wrath, or wonder. He saw Paris as a city sacked; a slaughter-house, where for a week a masque had moved to stately music; blood on the nailed doors and the close-set window bars; and at the corners of the ways strewn garments, broken weapons, the livid dead in heaps. But he saw all with eyes which in all and everywhere, among living and dead, sought only Tignonville ”

“ The youth led the King a crooked course through Southwark, and by-and-by struck into the high road beyond. The King was irritated, now, and said he would stop here—it was Hendon's place to come to him, not his to go to Hendon. He would not endure such insolence; he would stop where he was. The youth said—
"Thou'lt tarry here, and thy friend lying wounded in the wood yonder? So be it, then."
The King's manner changed at once. He cried out—
"Wounded? And who hath dared to do it? But that is apart; lead on, lead on! Faster, sirrah! Art shod with lead? Wounded, is he? ”

“ Tavannes answered scornfully. “Let him stand out, and if he will serve his Church as I will serve my King——”
“Blaspheme not!” cried the priest.
“Chatter not!” Tavannes retorted hardily, “but do! Better is he,” he continued, “who takes a city than he who slays women! Nay, sire,” he went on hurriedly, seeing the King start, “be not angry, but hear me! You would send to Biron, to the Arsenal? You seek a messenger, sire? Then let the good father be the man. Let him take your Majesty’s will to Biron, and let him see the Grand Master face to face, and bring him to reason. ”

“ Tavannes answered--but his words were barely audible above the deafening uproar. "Can you fight a thousand? Look! Look!" and seizing the other's wrist he pointed to the window. The street glowed like a furnace in the red light of torches, raised on poles above a sea of heads; an endless sea of heads, and gaping faces, and tossing arms which swept on and on, and on and by. ”

“ We always let each other alone in time to prevent ill feeling from spoiling a joke. But they had bought gloves, too, as I did. We threw all the purchases away together this morning. They were coarse, unsubstantial, freckled all over with broad yellow splotches, and could neither stand wear nor public exhibition. We had entertained an angel unawares, but we did not take her in. She did that for us.
Tangier! A tribe of stalwart Moors are wading into the sea to carry us ashore on their backs from the small boats. ”

“ Tawnish, I saw that he still stood as before, only that the point of his sword was buried deep in the floor beneath his weight, while his pale face seemed paler even than its wont. As we watched, his hand slipped suddenly from the hilt, and he tottered slightly; then I noticed for the first time that blood was running down his right arm, and trickling from his finger-tips. ”

“ My way lay by Matching Green, and as I stopped at the village inn to refresh my horse with a pail of gruel and myself with a glass of ale, who should come up but old Tawney, Tom Cuffe’s second horseman! Besides being an adept at his calling, familiar with every cross-road and almost every field in the county, he knew nearly as well as a hunted fox himself which way the creature meant to run. Tawney was a great gossip, and quite a mine of curious information about things equine and human—especially about things equine. ”

“ I saw the interior of a farm-house sitting-room in the Middle West where I had first heard the name of Mark Twain, and where night after night a group had gathered around the evening lamp to hear read aloud the story of the Innocents on their Holy Land pilgrimage, which to a boy of eight had seemed only a wonderful poem and fairy-tale. ”