Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/312

295 SEED SPKINKLED WITH BLOOD. 295 tit3l to the warriors. When her suffering lasted long enough to weary the fanatical fury of her fero- cious tormentors, the great chief shot aai arrow into her heart, and in an instant this arrow was followed by a thousand others, which after having been vio- lentl.v turned and twisted in the wounds, were torn from them in such a manner that her whole body pre- sented but one shapeless mass of mangled flesh, from which the blood streamed on all sides. When the blood had ceased to flow, the greater sacrificator ap- proached the expiring victim, and to crown so many atrocious acts tore out her heart with his own hands, and after uttering the most frightful imprecations against the Sioux nation, devoured the bleeding flesh amid the acclamations of his whole tribe. The man- gled remains were then left to be preyed upon by wild beasts, and when the blood had been sprinkled on the seed, to render it fertile, all repaired to their cabins, cheered with the hoDe of obtaining a copious; harvest. "As soon as the report of the sacrifice reached the Sioux, they burned with a desire to avenge their honor, and swore to a man that they would not rest satisfied till they should have killed as many Pawnees as the young victim had bones in her fingers and joints of her body. More than a hundred Pawneeg have at length fallen beneath their tomahawks,"