which these two detestable men stood. The hidden abettor
was a near relative of the chief. He was about five feet in height, and of a robust and vigorous frame. He had lost an eye in a quarrel with a young man; over the other hung a great flap of flesh, beginning from the middle of his forehead, and extending as far as his under jaw. He had a flat nose, thick lips, a large, gaping mouth, which displayed two
rows of oval teeth, as white as ivory. He concealed lightly his ugly frontispiece under tufts of thick, filthy black hair, matted together with gum and resin, mingled with vermilion. For several years, when he visited Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, he was the terror of all the children, for it was impossible to meet a human face more frightful and more loathsome. Undoubtedly the marks of contempt that he everywhere received, on account of his exterior, excited in him the inveterate hatred that he bore to his race. The artful Tchatka, perceiving scp= advantages that he might draw from a man of this nature in the execution of his designs, had long before taken him as associate. He always treated him with kindness, made him. presents, sought his confidence on various occasions and flattered his vicious inclinations. He could, in consequence, always rely upon this man, when there was occasion to injure his equals, and the poison had been administered so adroitly to the two young warriors that neither he nor Tchatka were suspected. On the contrary, in the opinion of the whole tribe, a new gem had been added to the brilliant reputation of Wah-konTangka, who could, when distant or near, control the lives of his subjects.
During the first years that Tchatka found himself at the head of his tribe, success very generally crowned all his undertakings, and his renown passed into all the neighboring tribes. However, it sometimes happened that his warriors were beaten. On such occasions he was always the first to take flight, giving for excage to his comrades that