Fell from their eyes then the film through which they had looked at victory . No more would they torture at the stake . For them the happy hunting-grounds now . They knew it ; but as their fathers ' sons they acquitted themselves . Even then they had time to gather in a phalanx that would have been hard to break had they risen quickly , but this they were forbidden to do by the traditions of their race . It is written that the noble savage must never express surprise in the presence of the white . Thus terrible as the sudden appearance of the pirates must have been to them , they remained stationary for a moment , not a muscle moving ; as if the foe had come by invitation . Then , indeed , the tradition gallantly upheld , they seized their weapons , and the air was torn with the warcry ; but it was now too late . It is no part of ours to describe what was a massacre rather than a fight . Thus perished many of the flower of the Piccaninny tribe . Not all unavenged did they die , for with Lean Wolf fell Alf Mason , to disturb the Spanish Main no more ; and among others who bit the dust were Geo . Scourie , Chas . Turley , and the Alsatian Foggerty . Turley fell to the tomahawk of the terrible Panther , who ultimately cut a way through the pirates with Tiger Lily and a small remnant of the tribe . To what extent Hook is to blame for his tactics on this occasion is for the historian to decide . Had he waited on the rising ground till the proper hour he and his men would probably have been butchered ; and in judging him it is only fair to take this into account . What he should perhaps have done was to acquaint his opponents that he proposed to follow a new method . On the other hand this , as destroying the element of surprise , would have made his strategy of no avail , so that the whole question is beset with difficulties . One can not at least withhold a reluctant admiration for the wit that had conceived so bold a scheme , and the fell genius with which it was carried out . What were his own feelings about himself at that triumphant moment ?
Fain would his dogs have known , as breathing heavily and wiping their cutlasses , they gathered at a discreet distance from his hook , and squinted through their ferret XXXXX at this extraordinary man .
Main admiration eyes fathers fight genius method opponents others tradition