Page:The Five Nations.djvu/68

48 When he stands up as pleading, in wavering, man-brute guise,

When he veils the hate and cunning of the little, swinish eyes;

"When he shows as seeking quarter, with paws like hands in prayer,

That is the time of peril—the time of the Truce of the Bear!"

Eyeless, noseless, and lipless, asking a dole at the door,

Matun, the old blind beggar, he tells it o'er and o'er;

Fumbling and feeling the rifles, warming his hands at the flame,

Hearing our careless white men talk of the morrow's game;

Over and over the story, ending as he began:—

"There is no truce with Adam-zad, the Bear that looks like a man!"