Her black eyes gleam as she declaims in a voice
strong, unterrified:
"Look! look! brothers and husbands--the Sacs and Foxes are upon us!
Behold, our braves are surprised--they are unprepared!
Hear the mothers, the wives and the children screaming in affright!
"Your brave sister, Eyatonkawee, she, the newly made mother,
is serving the smoking venison to her husband,
just returned from the chase!
Ah, he plunges into the thickest of the enemy!
He falls, he falls, in full view of his young wife!
"She desperately presses her babe to her breast,
while on they come yelling and triumphant!
The foremost of them all enters her white buffalo-skin teepee:
Tossing her babe at the warrior's feet, she stands before him, defiant;
But he straightway levels his spear at her bosom.
Quickly she springs aside, and as quickly deals a deadly blow with her ax:
Falls at her feet the mighty warrior!
"Closely following on comes another,
unknowing what fate has met his fellow!
He too enters her teepee, and upon his feather-decked head her ax falls--
Only his death-groan replies!
"Another of heroic size and great prowess,
as witnessed by his war-bonnet of eagle-feathers,
Rushes on, yelling and whooping--for they believe that victory is with them!
The third great warrior who has dared to enter Eyatonkawee's teepee uninvited,
he has already dispatched her husband!
He it is whose terrible war-cry has scattered her sisters
among the trees of the forest!
"On he comes with confidence and a brave heart,
seeking one more bloody deed--
One more feather to win for his head!
Behold, he lifts above her woman's head his battle-ax!
No hope, no chance for her life! .
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