Read A PAWNEE BRAVE of Stories About Indians, free online book, by Rufus Merrill, on ReadCentral.com.

The following anecdote is related of a Pawnee brave, or warrior, (son of Red Knife).

At the age of twenty-one, the heroic deeds of this brave had acquired for him in his nation the rank of the bravest of the braves. The savage practice of torturing and burning to death their prisoners existed in this nation. An unfortunate female of the Paduca nation, taken in war, was destined to this horrid death.

Just when the funeral pile was to be kindled, this young warrior, having unnoticed prepared two fleet horses, with the necessary provisions, sprang from his seat, liberated the victim, seized her in his arms, placed her on one of the horses, mounted the other himself, and made the utmost speed toward the nation and friends of the captive! The multitude, dumb and nerveless, made no effort to rescue their victim from her deliverer. They viewed it as the immediate act of the Great Spirit, submitted to it without a murmur, and quietly retired to their village.

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