314 ANOTHER WAR. [1647. 



breathing in deep sleep, lay stretched the dark 

 forms of the unconscious warriors, scarcely visible 

 in the gloom. She stepped over them to the en- 

 trance of the hut ; and here, as she was passing 

 out, she descried a hatchet on the ground. The 

 temptation was too strong for her Indian nature. 

 She seized it, and struck agam and again, with all 

 her force, on the skull of the Iroquois who lay at 

 the entrance. The sound of the blows, and the 

 convulsive struggles of the victim, roused the sleep- 

 ers. They sprang up, groping in the dark, and 

 demanding of each other what was the matter. At 

 length they lighted a roll of birch-bark, found thek 

 prisoner gone and their comrade dead, and rushed 

 out in a rage in search of the fugitive. She, mean- 

 while, instead of running away, had hid herself in 

 the hollow of a tree, which she had observed the 

 evening before. Her pursuers ran through the 

 dark woods, shouting and whooping to each other ; 

 and when all had passed, she crept from her hid- 

 ing-place, and fled in an opposite airection. In 

 the morning they found her tracks and followed 

 them. • On the second day they had overtaken and 

 surrounded her, when, hearing their cries on all 

 sides, she gave up all hope. But near at hand, in 

 the thickest depths of the forest, the beavers had 

 dammed a brook and formed a pond, full of gnawed 

 stumps, dead fallen trees, rank weeds, and tangled 

 bushes. She plunged in, and, swimming and wad- 

 ing, found a hiding-place, where her body was con- 

 cealed by the water, and her head by the masses of 

 dead and living vegetation. Her pursuers were at 



