ing on the prostrate man, without waiting
to give him the merciful blow, whipped off his scalp, and left him still
bleeding on the ground. On seeing this, Pierre, who seemed rather
ashamed of his friends, sent a bullet into the poor wretch's head, and
put him out of his misery.

The knife of one of the others must have been blunt, for finding that
the scalp did not come off as quickly as he wished, seating himself on
the ground with his feet against the dead man's shoulders, he pulled it
away by main force. So far we had been more successful than we had
expected; but our enemies might rally, and, hovering in the
neighbourhood, keep us constantly in a state of anxiety. We were
unwilling to leave our secure position until we could ascertain whether
the Indians had retreated. To learn this, it was necessary to get to
the other side of the wood, which hid them from view. For this purpose,
one of our allies volunteered to ride forward and ascertain where they
were. The risk, however, was great, for should he be pursued, and
overtaken, his death was certain. Still, the advantage to us would be
so great, that Armitage consented to his going. Instead of making
directly towards the wood, however, he rode first to the east and then
suddenly turning his course northward, galloped along at full speed,
until he got a good view of the north side of the wood which was a mere
belt of trees, scarcely thick enough to conceal a large body of
horsemen.

We watched him anxiously. At any moment his enemies might sally out and
attack him. At length we saw him turn his horse's head, when he came
riding leisurely back. Perceiving this we forthwith mounted and
continued our journey, leaving the bodies of the Indians to be devoured
by the prairie wolves, for we had no time, even had we wished it, to
bury them.

We of course kept a bright look out behind us as well as on either side,
for as Pierre observed, "It never does to trust those varmints of
Redskins; they come like the wind, and are off again with as many scalps
as they can lift before a man who has shut his eyes for a moment has
time to open them."

I confess that I heartily hoped we should in future be left alone; for,
although I had no objection to an occasional brush with the red men, I
had no fancy to be constantly harassed by them, and to be compelled to
remain in camp without the chance of a shot at a deer or buffalo for
fear of losing one's scalp. I thought, howeve