midnight
Hark ! Do we not hear them now rustling softly over the leaves ? We discern an Indian woman , -- a majestic and queenly woman , or else her spectral image does not represent her truly , -- for this is the great Squaw Sachem , whose rule , with that of her sons , extends from Mystic to Agawam . That red chief , who stalks by her side , is Wappacowet , her second husband , the priest and magician , whose incantations shall hereafter affright the pale-faced settlers with grisly phantoms , dancing and shrieking in the woods , at midnight . But greater would be the affright of the Indian necromancer , if , mirrored in the pool of water at his feet , he could catch a prophetic glimpse of the noonday marvels which the white man is destined to achieve ; if he could see , as in a dream , the stone front of the stately hall , which will cast its shadow over this very spot ; if he could be aware that the future edifice will contain a noble Museum , where , among countless curiosities of earth and sea , a few Indian arrow-heads shall be treasured up as memorials of a vanished race ! No such forebodings disturb the Squaw Sachem and Wappacowet . They pass on , beneath the tangled shade , holding high talk on matters of state and religion , and imagine , doubtless , that their own system of affairs will endure forever .