The Canadian Brothers | Page 8

those of England; and, up to the moment of his recent expedition,
had cultivated the most perfect understanding with the English chiefs.

It might, however, be seen that even while pleasure and satisfaction at a
reunion with those he in torn esteemed, flashed from his dark and eager
eye, there was still lurking about his manner that secret jealousy of
distinction, which is so characteristic of the haughty Indian. After the
first warm salutations had passed, he became sensible of the absence of
the English chief; but this was expressed rather by a certain outswelling
of his chest, and the searching glance of his restless eye, than by any
words that fell from his lips. Presently, he whom he sought, and whose
person had hitherto been concealed by the battery on the hank, was
seen advancing towards him, accompanied by his personal staff. In a
moment the shade passed away from the brow of the warrior, and
warmly grasping and pressing, for the second time, the hand of a
youth--one of the group of junior officers among whom he yet stood,
and who had manifested even more than his companions the
unbounded pleasure he took in the chieftain's re-appearance--he moved
forward, with an ardour of manner that was with difficulty restrained
by his sense of dignity, to give them the meeting.
The first of the advancing party was a tall, martial looking man,
wearing the dress and insignia of a general officer. His rather florid
countenance was eminently fine, if not handsome, offering, in its more
Roman than Grecian contour, a model of quiet, manly beauty; while the
eye, beaming with intelligence and candour, gave, in the occasional
flashes which it emitted, indication of a mind of no common order.
There was, notwithstanding, a benevolence of expression about it that
blended (in a manner to excite attention) with a dignity of deportment,
as much the result of habitual self command, as of the proud eminence
of distinction on which he stood. The sedative character of middle age,
added to long acquired military habits, had given a certain rigidity to
his fine form, that might have made him appear to a first observer even
older than he was, but the placidity of a countenance beaming good
will and affability, speedily removed the impression, and, if the portly
figure added to his years, the unfurrowed countenance took from them
in equal proportion.
At his side, hanging on his arm and habited in naval uniform, appeared
one who, from his familiarity of address with the General, not less than
by certain appropriate badges of distinction, might be known as the
commander of the little fleet then lying in the harbour. Shorter in

person than his companion, his frame made up in activity what it
wanted in height, and there was that easy freedom in his movements
which so usually distinguishes the carriage of the sailor, and which now
offered a remarkable contrast to that rigidity we have stated to have
attached (quite unaffectedly) to the military commander. His eyes, of a
much darker hue, sparkled with a livelier intelligence, and although his
complexion was also highly florid, if was softened down by the general
vivacity of expression that pervaded his frank and smiling countenance.
The features, regular and still youthful, wore a bland and pleasing
character; while neither, in look, nor bearing, nor word could there be
traced any of that haughty reserve usually ascribed to the "lords of the
sea." There needed no other herald to proclaim him for one who had
already seen honorable service, than the mutilated stump of what had
once been an arm: yet in this there was no boastful display, as of one
who deemed he had a right to tread more proudly because he had
chanced to suffer, where all had been equally exposed, in the
performance of a common duty. The empty sleeve, unostentatiously
fastened by a loop from the wrist to a button of the lappel was suffered
to fall at his side, and by no one was the deficiency less remarked than
by himself.
The greeting between Tecumseh and these officers, was such as might
be expected from warriors bound to each other by mutual esteem. Each
held the other in the highest honor, but it was particularly remarked that
while the Indian Chieftain looked up to the General with the respect he
felt to be due to him, not merely as the dignified representative of his
"Great Father," but as one of a heart and actions claiming his highest
personal admiration, his address to his companion, whom he now
beheld for the first time, was warmer, and more energetic; and as he
repeatedly glanced at the armless sleeve, he uttered one of those quick
ejaculatory exclamations, peculiar to his race, and indicating, in this