His eyes, small and keen, blazed with a strange ferocity, as I have seen those of wildcats in the dark; while his flesh was drawn so closely against his prominent cheek-bones as to leave an impression of ghastliness, as of a corpse suddenly returned by some miracle to life.

With dabs of paint across the forehead, and thin lips drawn in a narrow line of cruelty, his face formed a picture to be long remembered with a shudder.
It was easy enough to see that Captain Heald felt uncertain how far to venture in his proposals, though he spoke up boldly, and with no tremor in his voice.

His long frontier experience had taught him the danger that lay in exhibiting timidity in the face of Indian scorn.
"Gomo," he said firmly, "and you other Chiefs of the Pottawattomies, there has never been war between us.

We have traded together for many seasons; you have eaten at my table, and I have rested by your fires.
We have been as brothers, and more than once have I judged between you and those who would wrong you.

I have remembered all this, and have now come into your camp through the night, without fear and unarmed, that I might talk with you as friends.