The tranquil state of affairs did not last for long.
The Indians, eager to revenge Oluski's death, wore impatient of the
restraint Wacora would have imposed upon them, and at a council convened
for that purpose, they determined to attack the stockade upon the hill.
This determination was hastened by several rencontres which had taken
place in the outlying districts.
A small party of the red men, led by Maracota, had pillaged and
destroyed a plantation.
Near the bay they had been met by some of the white settlers as they
were returning from their work of destruction.
In the _melee_ which ensued a number of Indians were killed, while their
white adversaries met with little loss.
These and some individual cases of contest had worked the red men up to
a pitch of savage earnestness that took all Wacora's temporising power
to restrain.
He knew the character of the people he had to deal with too well to
hazard opposition to their will, the more so as his own desire for
vengeance was as deep and earnest, but more deadly than theirs.
One thought occupied his mind nobler than that of revenge--the
regeneration of the Indian race.
A chimera it may have been, but still his great ambition.