T02 The Winning of the West 



murdered, and then disappeared again into the 

 fathomless depths of the woods. Half of the ter- 

 ror they caused was due to the extreme difficulty of 

 following them, and the absolute impossibility of 

 forecasting their attacks. Without warning, and 

 unseen until the moment they dealt the death stroke, 

 they emerged from their forest fastnesses, the hor- 

 ror they caused being heightened no less by the 

 mystery that shrouded them than by the dreadful 

 nature of their ravages. Wrapped in the mantle 

 of the unknown, appalling by their craft, their fe- 

 rocity, their fiendish cruelty, they seemed to the 

 white settlers devils and not men; no one could 

 say with certainty whence they came nor of what 

 tribe they were; and when they had finished their 

 dreadful work they retired into a wilderness that 

 closed over their trail as the waves of the ocean 

 close in the wake of a ship. 



They were trained to the use of arms from their 

 youth up, and war and hunting were their two chief 

 occupations, the business as well as the pleasure of 

 their lives. They were not as skilful as the white 

 hunters with the rifle 15 though more so than tht 

 average regular soldier, nor could they equal the 

 frontiersman in feats of physical prowess, such as 



15 It is curious how to this day the wild Indians retain the 

 same traits. I have seen and taken part in many matches 

 between frontiersmen and the Sioux, Cheyennes, Grosven- 

 tres, and Mandans, and the Indians were beaten in almost 

 every one. On the other hand the Indians will stand fa- 

 tigue, hunger, and privation better, but they seem more 

 susceptible to cold. 



