His new relations with the damsel Missouri, and the impossibility
of forcing the Pawnee Loups to make the assault, rendered
Enemoya very impatient of the war. Day by day he became
more and more restless — more and more dissatisfied — more and
more troubled by the strongest longing to steal away, and take,
if only a look, at the dusky but beautiful damsel, by the lake
side, and among the thickets. He had picked up certain spoils
among the villages of the Pawnees — for the decree of the
Omaha prophets did not denounce the spoiling of the Egyptians;
only the slaying of them — and, now that he was a betrothed
lover, Enemoya was quite as avid after spoils as ever feudal
chieftain in the palmy days of chivalry. And why should he
not draw off from the camp, and carry home his treasures and
his trophies? What was there to be done? The Pawnees would
not fight — would not strike, at all events — and eluded all efforts
to bring them to blows, and dodged admirably every sort of
danger. He could do no more than he had done, and the
business of the war having subsided into a question of mere vigilance
and patience, he felt that this could be carried on quite as
well by ordinary warriors as by the best. As for hunting, why
should he fatigue himself in this business? Had he not already
shown to Missouri the rafters of his cabin reeking of the most
savory meats? Thus thinking, he daily grew more and more
convinced of the propriety of returning home. His meditations
influenced his dreams, and these filled him with trouble. An
Indian is a great dreamer, and has a great faith in the quality
of dreams. The practice of oneirocromancy is a favorite among

[figure description] Page 418.[end figure description]

his priests and prophets. The orientals were never such famous
interpreters in the days of “the Elders.” Being a poet also,
Enemoya shared in the dreaming endowment of the priesthood.
His sleep was wholly occupied with dreams. In all of these,
Missouri was a conspicuous feature. Now he saw her in flight;
now in tears, and trembling; anon he beheld her fettered; and
again she seemed to float away from his embrace, a bleeding
spectre, melting away finally into thin air. In most of these
dreams, he beheld always, as one of the persons of the drama, a
warrior in the hateful guise of a Pawnee. How should a Pawnee
dare to hover, even in a dream, about the person of Missouri, the
betrothed of a great chief of the Omahas? What had he to do
there? and why did the spectre of one unknown, whom indeed
he only saw dimly, and always with face averted, and looking
toward Missouri — why did he presume to thrust himself between
his visions and the object so precious and ever present to his
dreams? The heart of the young warrior became uneasy, as he
could conjecture no reasonable solution of his difficulty, unless,
indeed, one of which he dared not think. Was Missouri the
captive of the Pawnee? He recoiled at the notion — he laughed,
but rather hollowly, and with great effort — and became more
uneasy than ever. His waking dreams, shaped by those that
came to him in sleep, became still more troublesome, and he resolved
to depart secretly for the dear islet in the little lake, if
only to disarm his doubts, and get rid of his vexatious fancies.
An opportunity soon enabled him to do so. A large party of
the Omahas had resolved upon a long hunt, and they applied to
Enemoya to join them. The sport in no way promised to interfere
with the quasi warfare which was carried on; and, finding
it impossible to bring the Pawnees to the striking point, the
Omahas contented themselves with the warfare upon the quadrupeds
of the forest. Enemoya joined the hunt, but soon disappeared
from the party. They did not miss him till nightfall,
and in the meantime he had sped, fast and far, pushing backward
along the paths leading to the little island, and the dusky
damsel whom he loved.

But the young warrior was late, though no laggard. His
enemy had been before him. That subtle and enterprising Kionk
had led his party with surprising address, and had succeeded in

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fetching such a compass as brought him entirely without the
alignment of spies and scouts, which the Omahas had stretched
across the country, and, without impediment or interruption, had
made his way successfully to the borders of the little lake in
which the blessed island seemed to be brooding upon its own
bosom in a dream of peace. — Nothing could look more calm,
more inoffensive, more winning. One would think that, to behold
it only, would disarm the hostile passions of the enemy.
There lay the quiet groves beyond. There rose the soft white
curling smokes from the little cabin; and see beneath the trees
where the young damsels and the children are skipping gayly
about, as little conscious of care as danger.

The prospect did not disarm the Pawnee chief. On the contrary,
it rather strengthened his resolve, and stimulated his
enterprise. “If we obtain this captive,” he thought to himself,
“we conquer these rascally Omahas; and then we take possession
of this beautiful island, this fine lake always full of the sweetest
fish, and these broad green meadows, where I can keep a score
of horses without sending them out to grass.” And the eye of
Kionk already selected a particular site for his own future settlement,
and by no means stinted himself in the number of his
self-allotted acres. But he did not, while thus thinking of his
own projects of plunder, become neglectful of the duties which
he had undertaken. He looked about him, the better to prosecute
his objects. We need not to be told that this inquiry was
prosecuted with as much caution as energy. Everybody understands
that the red men kept themselves well covered in the
woods, so that none of the innocent children and the thoughtless
girls, sporting along the banks of the islet, on the opposite shore,
could get the slightest glimpse of their persons or their projects.
The marauders stole up the stream, for the lake was simply
formed by the expansion of a river, which the islet divided in
the middle. The Pawnees kept under cover till they almost
lost sight of the islet. At length they emerged upon the banks
of the river. Here they found a canoe, with which they put out
from shore, leaving it to the current to take them down to the
islet, and using their paddles simply to shape their course, so as
to touch the point aimed at only where its shrubs and willows
would afford concealment. The whole affair was well managed,

[figure description] Page 420.[end figure description]

and was quite successful. The Pawnee warriors found themselves,
for the first time, on the blessed island of the Omahas.
The reptile was in the garden. He crawled, and crept, or
sneaked, crouching or gliding from cover to cover, from thicket
to thicket, and stealing from side to side, wherever he thought
it most probable that he should happen upon the victim he
sought. More than once Kionk might have caught up a child,
a nice little girl of seven or eight, or a stout chunk of a boy of
similar age; but he had his doubts if such juveniles were contemplated
by the oracle. He must do his work thoroughly, and
having gone thus far in his enterprise, peril nothing upon a
miserable doubt.