And I heard them conversing among themselves, mentioning frequently the Three Sisters* they had destroyed; and they spoke ever with a hint of tenderness and regret in their tones which left me silent and unhappy.
[*Corn, squash, and bean were so spoken of affectionately, as they always were planted together by the Iroquois.] To slay in the heat and fury of combat is one matter; to scar and cripple the tender features of humanity's common mother is a different affair.

And I make no doubt that every blow that bit into the laden fruit trees of Chemung stabbed more deeply the men who so mercilessly swung the axes.
Well might the great Cayuga chieftain repeat the terrible prophecy of Toga-na-etah the Beautiful: "When the White Throats shall come, then, if ye be divided, ye will pull down the Long House, fell the tall Tree of Peace, and quench the Onondaga Fire forever." As I stood by the rushing current of the Thiohero,* on the profaned and desolate threshold of the Dark Empire, I thought of O-cau-nee, the Enchantress, and of Na-wenu the Blessed, and of Hiawatha floating in his white canoe into the far haven where the Master of Life stood waiting.
[*Seneca River.] And now, for these doomed people of the Kannonsi, but one rite remained to be accomplished.

And the solemn thunder of the last drum-roll must summon them to the great Festival of the Dead..