and approaching the sleepers with the noiseless and stealthy
cunning of a fox, he seized one of their tomahawks, and wielding it with
inconceivable power and rapidity, left four of them in an eternal sleep,
before the fifth had time to awake and spring to his feet. The struggle
that ensued was terrible; but Ash-te-o-lah had the advantage in every
respect, and the conflict ended in a very few minutes, by leaving him
alone in the camp of his enemies.

Selecting from the spoils of the fallen a suitable dress for himself,
with the choicest of their bows, a well-stored quiver, a tomahawk, and
an ample pouch of provisions, and securing to his belt the scalps of his
yet breathing victims, Ash-te-o-lah set off afresh, with a light heart,
and a bounding step, for the sunny vales of the Katahba. Resolved not to
hazard any of the advantage he had gained, he did not allow himself any
sleep, for several successive nights, only as he reclined, for a few
moments, a little before day, with his back to a tree, and a clear space
about him, where he could not be taken by surprise. Growing more secure,
as he approached his home, and discovered no sign of his pursuing enemy,
he sought out the spot where he had killed seven of the chase, in the
first day of his flight, opened their yet fresh graves, added their
scalps to the five then hanging to his belt, burnt their bodies to
ashes, and returned in safety, laden with his hard earned trophies, to
gladden his humble wigwam, and thrill the council of his people with the
story of his singular adventures.

Her prophetic dream had made so deep an impression upon the mind of
Minaree, that, from the first, she did not expect "the bold hunter's
return." His lengthened absence troubled, but did not surprise her. She
yielded him to a stern fate, from which there was no escape; and with a
calmness which we, of another race, too often regard as coldness and
insensibility, prepared to follow him to the spirit land. His return was
to her soul like a visit from that land--a gift from the Great
Spirit--and ever after, to the deep devotion of her early love, was
added that peculiar reverence, that tender, holy affection, which the
Indians every where cherish for the departed.

When the second party of the Senecas, in the course of the third day of
the pursuit, arrived at the camp of their slaughtered people, the sight
gave them a greater shock than they had ever known before. In their
chilled war council t