He knew that the son of the stranger who had slain his young warrior had been wounded, and, as he hoped, mortally; but that did not suffice for his revenge, and he had either suddenly attacked the settlement, in the hope of securing either Rudolph himself or some of his comrades, that he might shed the white man's blood on the grave of his son, and tear off their scalps as trophies of victory.

It was evidently the dwelling of the chief of the tribe; and the beautifully carved implements which hung to the walls, and the skulls and scalps that adorned the roof, showed that its possessor was a distinguished warrior.

He then adjured the evil spirit, and commanded him to remove the disease; promising, in return, to offer to him skins, and hatchets, and even the scalps of his foes.

Many of the Crees bore scalps suspended from their belts, as bloody trophies of victory; and all had arms, and skins, and ornaments that they had carried away from the pillaged wigwams of their foes.

How gloriously Sir Hugh Willoughby, Bart., of The Hut, Tryon county, New York, would sound, Woods!Did Nick boast of the scalps he has taken from the Carthaginians?"

"YesNick been chief ag'intake scalps.

How many of these said scalps, now, may ye have picked up, Nick, in yer last journey?

"Then we'll avenge their scalps.

The American Indians attach all the glory or shame of a battle to the acquisition or loss of scalps, and one of their practices was to remove those who had fallen, at every hazard, in order to escape the customary mutilation.

As for the first, agreeably to savage notions, glory was to be measured by the number of scalps taken and lost; and, counting all the women left in the Hut, there would not be heads enough to supply a sufficient number to prove an offset to those which would probably be lost in the assault.

" "True, lad," returned Joe; "had he bin the great chief our scalps had bin dryin' in the smoke o' a Pawnee wigwam afore now.

"That blackguard Mahtawa is determined not to let us off till he gits all our goods; an' if he gits them, he may as well take our scalps too, for we would come poor speed in the prairies without guns, horses, or goods.

No; we will hang their scalps in our wigwams, for they have struck a chief, and we will keep all their goods for our squawswah!"

You have even been so unreasonable that whenever a poor red man has secured a few paleface scalps as trophies to hang in his wigwam you have taken your trusty rifles and gone forth with great fury and shot the poor Indian full of hard bullets.

and we are out for scalps.

If I do I'll take along the scalps of a few sophomores!" They continued to work on him for nearly an hour, but were unable to get off more than a certain portion of the paint.

As the regular 'Varsity nine had likewise won the first of their series with Harvard, the "Sons of Eli" began to think they had a sure thing, and those who came on from New Haven were dead sure in their minds that they would bring back the scalps of the Harvard freshmen.

The Burlington Gazette (Iowa) says, "that a Sac and Fox war party recently returned from the Missouri, bringing eight scalps, and a number of female prisoners, and horses.

The party consisted of ten men, with their squaws; and, although only eight scalps were brought in, it is supposed that not a single man escaped.

Do you have to collect a certain number of scalps by this particular rare day in June?

Now, Tayoga, why do you think the Owl is here so far to the eastward of his usual range?" "He and his warriors are looking for scalps, Great Bear, and it may be that they have seen St. Luc.

They seek scalps, but not ours, because they do not know of us.

Tandakora, the Ojibway, had rejoiced because he had expected a great taking of scalps, but the purer spirit of the Onondaga soared into the heights because he had saved his comrade of a thousand dangers.

(Rowney, 139.)[260] SCALPS AND FIELD-MICE

They are after our scalps.