e
some words to me, and though I could not understand them, yet I thought
they were pleasant to hear; for they were the first sound of a man's
voice that I had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty-five years.
But there was no time for such reflections now; the savage who was
knocked down recovered himself so far as to sit up upon the ground, and
I perceived that my savage began to be afraid; but when I saw that, I
presented my other piece at the man, as if I would shoot him: upon this
my savage, for so I call him now, made a motion to me to lend him my
sword, which hung naked in a belt by my side, which I did. He no sooner
had it, but he runs to his enemy, and, at one blow, cut off his head so
cleverly, no executioner in Germany could have done it sooner or better;
which I thought very strange for one who, I had reason to believe, never
saw a sword in his life before, except their own wooden swords: however,
it seems, as I learned afterwards, they make their wooden swords so
sharp, so heavy, and the wood is so hard, that they will cut off heads
even with them, aye, and arms, and that at one blow too. When he had
done this, he comes laughing to me, in sign of triumph, and brought me
the sword again, and with abundance of gestures, which I did not
understand, laid it down, with the head of the savage that he had
killed, just before me. But that which astonished him most, was to know
how I killed the other Indian so far off: so pointing to him, he made
signs to me to let him go to him; so I bade him go, as well as I could.
When he came to him, he stood like one amazed, looking at him, turning
him first on one side, then on the other, looked at the wound the bullet
had made, which, it seems, was just in his breast, where it had made a
hole, and no great quantity of blood had followed; but he had bled
inwardly, for he was quite dead. He took up his bow and arrows, and came
back; so I turned to go away, and beckoned him to follow me, making
signs to him that more might come after them. Upon this, he made signs
to me that he should bury them with sand, that they might not be seen by
the rest, if they followed; and so I made signs to him again to do so.
He fell to work; and, in an instant, he had scraped a hole in the sand
with his hands, big enough to bury the first in, and then dragged him
into it, and covered him; and did so by the other also: I believe he had
buried them both in a quarter of an hour. Then calling him away