The men were camped about the fort, and half a mile away through the forest a hundred Indians had pitched their wigwams.

The Indian camp, with its bark wigwams and tall totem pole, had become a great place of resort with certain of the officers.

Once more he bent over the sleeping children Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams Stuyvesant The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life Blanche could not utter a word of consolation Oliver Cromwell "Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his passion, tore the letter into pieces Tomb of Stuyvesant

Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice, were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams.

" [Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.

Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams.

Here his men erected about five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited an abundant store of provisions.

There were about a dozen ill-constructed huts, or wigwams; but no spot of grass, or shrub, was visible to the eye, with the exception of, here and there, the trunk of an old tree.

The reading of them brings up the days of long time ago when I was a boy and heard our old people tell these tales in the wigwams and at the camp fire.

The interchange of visits between the northern Indians and the Eskimos has resulted in the discovery that quite a number of the myths recited in Indian wigwams are in a measure, if not wholly, of Eskimo origin.

Mary's piercing screams speedily brought a number of Indians from neighboring wigwams.

This was a good thing for bad boys, for it gave them time to scurry into the wigwams, out of his way.

Their dog trains were in almost constant demand, for they kept flying over the various icy trails until in the different wigwams all had been remembered with some useful gift.

The bright fires burning in the center of the wigwams, or in the fireplaces at the end or side of the little Indian houses, were of course always welcome after a long run in the bitter cold.

He feared that if it were allowed to die out at the same time in all of the wigwams he might not be so successful again if he had to try to get a fresh supply from the fierce old man and his now wrathful daughters.

There was a pretty violent dispute on the subject, but at length it was agreed that they should spare his life in the meantime, and perhaps have a dog-dance round him when they got to their wigwams.

As the evening approaches, day after day they seek out some convenient landing place, and, pitching the wigwams on the beach, spend a goodly portion of the night carousing and telling stories around their camp fires, resuming their voyage after a morning sleep, long alter the sun has risen above the blue waters of the east.

Another sunset hour, and the cavalcade of canoes is quietly gliding into the crescent bay of Mackinaw, and, reaching a beautiful beach at the foot of a lofty bluff, the Indians again draw up their canoes,again erect their wigwams.

Thus during the whole journey they had not once caught sight of an Indian, though they had two or three times made out, with the aid of a telescope Tom had brought with him, little clusters of wigwams far away among the hills.

Stop," he broke off suddenly; "look up there just beyond the shoulder of that hill; there are some wigwams, sure enough.

The inhabitants, who had witnessed our approach from a distance, were all assembled in front of their wigwams to greet us, if friendsif otherwise, whatever the occasion should demand.

[Illustration: WIGWAMS.]

On arriving at the edge of the gulch or narrow valley I saw the horses in the vicinity of about fifteen or twenty wigwams which were all in a row on the bank of a little creek that ran through the gulch.

On first sight of the village, being not more than 200 yards away, my heart fluttered just a little, not knowing whether the savages would scalp me or not; but, notwithstanding my natural cowardice, I at once determined to "beard the lion in his den," and walked as boldly as I could up to the lower end of the row of wigwams.

They set fire to the fort, and shot down the Indians as they strove to escape from their burning wigwams.