THE ELK, OR WATITI. 289 



many gory trophies. When one assassin finished relating 

 his tale, all present uttered a guttural " wach" of approba- 

 tion, as a certificate of his truthfulness ; and after some 

 more stamping, yelling, and hideous grimaces, another leap- 

 ed into the circle and told his exploits ; and so it was con- 

 tinued until all had proclaimed their martial deeds, and ele- 

 vated themselves into the greatest of heroes. I noticed 

 that one scalp aroused two of them into the greatest state 

 of frenzy, for they screamed and roared, barked, yelped, 

 stamped with their feet, snapped their teeth, distorted their 

 facial muscles, and hissed as they pointed at it, and bran- 

 dished their arms and weapons in the most frantic manner, 

 to show how hard its owner had struggled to keep it on 

 his head. When they had finished their wild harangue, an 

 unusually loud and prolonged " wach " from all announced 

 that it was a great feat indeed ; and, when the braves left 

 the ring, an old chief told the audience how many men they 

 had lost in trying to get that scalp. 



I did not understand a word of what they said, but I 

 could readily comprehend their gestures, and deduced from 

 them that one of the greatest deeds ever performed by the 

 tribe was to secure that scalp. Turning to the French half- 

 breed who was with me, I asked him to translate their 

 speeches for me, and he said that the scalp w as that of a 

 white man which they had taken in the Wind River region 

 a few months previously. The party of whites of which he 

 was a member had killed or wounded fifteen of their men, 

 and then escaped in the great chasm ; but that he, being 

 the last in the line, had his horse shot under him, and ho 

 fell to the ground. He mounted another, however, in a 

 moment ; but, before he could escape, one of the two braves 

 stunned him with a shot in the head, and then pulled him 

 off his horse, while the second shot him through the right 

 arm with an arrow. On recovering consciousness, the 

 white man drew his revolver, and shot three warriors as 

 they were crowding around him ; but, before he could in- 

 flict any further injury, he was seized by the two Terpsi- 

 choreans, unarmed, bound, and tied to a tree, where he was 



13 



