Red Plume — page 56: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

56 RED PLUME. his abilities. What he had already done appeared so wonder- ful in the eyes of the savages, and had excited so much eulo-, gium, that he had almost begun to believe in his own omni- potence, ana had spoken without thinking. To hide his embarrassment, he bent down ever the litter to take up his harpoon, and to think about what he should do in this emergency, when he noticed a strange appearance in the fuce of the supposed corpse. Gazing earnestiy at the eyes, lips and nostrils of the chief, he detected a faint tremor of a nerve here, anda slight flutter of an eyglash there. Placing his hand over the region of the heart, and delicately feeling the pulse, he was sure that there was life in the Fat Bear, and resolved to try the experiment, “ sink pr swim, live or die, sur- vive or perish !” Replacing the blanket, and solemnly waving his magical harpoon, he ordered the body to be carried into a sheltered place. The litter was lifted, according to his directions, and borne within the chief’s lodge. As Eben followed it, he per- ceived that the lodge was tenanted by two women, one of whom was old As-moo-tah, and the other was his fair cousin Ellen Carver ! The old hag was lying on the ground, having howled and moaned herself to sleep, but Ellen was wide awake, and re- © cognized him as soon as he entered. She started up, and was about to speak to him, when he admonished her, by a waving motion of his harpoon, to leave him unnoticed. He then or- dered the lodge to be cleared of all persons, except himself and the two women, which was quickly done, and he pro- ceeded with his task. Again uncovering the face and breast of the chief, he found the signs of life more apparent than he had previously noticed them. Taking a small flask of brandy from his pocket, he placed it to the lips of the patient, and poured a little down: his throat. After a struggle, Nip-muck-we breathed slightly, and blood began to trickle from the wounds in his breast and | side. Eben gave him another sip, when the red-man opened his eyes and lips, and groaned, while the blood flowed freely from his cuts. . The Yankee let the blood run for a while; think- | ing that it would do the Fat Bear no hurt to lose it, and then stopped the flow from the wounds. é comiicbooks.com