Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 8, 2025
"Is she not the daughter of Pontiac?" he inquired. "Yes." "Then you must be a son of the great chief?" "I am his son," replied the young Indian, proudly. "Am I, then, Pontiac's prisoner?" "No. One bearing the sign of the Metai may be Pontiac's guest, but never his prisoner." "Ah, yes! I forgot my symbolic marking.
A single figure, with face hideously painted in narrow stripes, broke from it, sprang forward, and dashing aside the blazing wood, shouted a few words in a tongue that was strange to most of them, though some understood. These translated what was said to the others, and in a few seconds every warrior was repeating in awed tones to his neighbor: "He is of the Metai! He is of the Totem of the Bear!
"As to the charge against this white man, it must also be told, for all things may be learned by the Metai. Know, then, that he came to us as a great medicine man, who wished to become Indian. He performed marvellous deeds, and won our confidence. He offered to show us how we might safely capture the fort of the log house. He placed powder so as to destroy it.
"Was he not by birth a warrior who could be naught but brave? and had he not already, as you have just told, saved the life of a chief of the Metai?" queried Ah-mo. "True, so he had," asserted the major. "But what is this Metai of which you speak?" "Being a woman, I know but little of it," answered the Indian girl. "It is a powerful order of much mystery extending over many tribes.
By the way, Ah-mo, who is the present chief of this magic circle? or is it not known to the uninitiated?" "It is known to all who care to know," replied the girl, proudly, "for his name is Pontiac, and it is his own mark, which no other may use, that encloses the all-seeing eye of the Metai on your son's arm." "Whew-w-w," whistled the major, reflectingly.
Then, as the dread sentence of the Metai reached those remoter parts, he was driven from camp to camp until there was none who dared give him shelter or aid. So he turned to the far west with a purpose of joining the fierce Dacotahs beyond the great river.
Queer how things turn out in this funny old world! I only wish I knew just what that tattooing on my arm means, and what the Metai is, anyway. If I did, I might turn the knowledge to advantage. Hello! Something has been carried into those bushes, the paymaster's tub for a guinea."
"No, we belong to our mother's totem, which is that of the Beaver, for no one may belong to the totem of his father." "And what means the circle of serpents?" asked Major Hester. "It signifies the magic circle of the Metai, to which none but a brave warrior, who has won the honor by some notable deed, may belong." "But Donald was a child."
Me metai!" cried my friends in excited congratulation, while like all men who succeed by accident, I stood proudly, taking the plaudits as my due. From that afternoon I had most exhilarating sport, and indeed, this is the very king of amusements for fun and exercise.
Instead of gingerbread, there were immense quantities of metai, or sweetmeats, of different shapes and forms, and various hues; sugar rock-work, pink, white, and yellow, with all sorts and descriptions of cakes. The carriage moved slowly through the crowd, and at length, finding it inconvenient to proceed farther in it, we alighted.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking