MooxKY] HIADEONI THK TWO .MOHAWKS 357 



"My .son, I am going" to .'jucIi a place, and will not Iio liack till morn- 

 ing." He made a .suitable re.spon.se. and the old woman went out. 

 In.sensibh- he fell asleep, and knew nothing till innriiing. when the 

 fir.st thing he heard wa.s the mothers voiee. She. careful for her son. 

 was at the tireplaee very early. ])ulling some roasted s(|uashes out of 

 the ashes, and after putting them out. ami telling him she left them 

 for him to eat, she went away. He sprang up instantly and fled; hut 

 the early dawn had revealed his inroad, and he was hotly j)ui-sued. 

 Light of foot, and having the start, he succeeded in reaching and con- 

 cealing himself in a remote piece of woods, where he laid till night, 

 and then jjursiu'd his way toward the Gene.see. which, in due time he 

 reached, bringing his three Cherokee .scalps as trophies of his victory 

 and prowess." — Schoolcraft. Notes on Iroquois, p. 258. 1S47. 



91. THE TWO MOHAWKS 



"In the 3-ear 1747 a couple of the Mohawk Indians came against the 

 lower towns of the Cheerake, and so cunningly ambu.scaded them, 

 through most pai-t of the spring and summer, as to kill above twenty in 

 difl'erent attacks before they were discovered by any part}- of the 

 enraged and dejected people. They had a thorough knowledge of the 

 most convenient ground for their purpose, and were extremely swift 

 and long-winded. Whenever they killed any and got the scalp the}' 

 made off to the neighboring mountains, and ran over tlie broad ledges 

 of rocks in contrary courses, as occasion offered, so as the pursuers 

 could by no means trace them. Once, when a large company was in 

 chase of them, they ran round a steep hill at the head of the main 

 ea.stern branch of Savana river, intercepted, killed, and .scalped the 

 hindmost of the party, and then made off' between them and Keeo- 

 whee. As this was the town to which the company liidonged, they 

 hastened home in a close body, as the proper place of security from 

 such enemy wizards. In this manner did those two sprigiitly. gallant 

 savages perplex and intimidate their foes for the space of four moons 

 in the greatest security, though they often were forced to kill and 

 barbecue what they chietly lived upon, in the midst of their watchful 

 enemies. Having suffit'iently revenged their relations' l)lood and grat- 

 ified their own ambition with an uncommon number of scalps, they 

 resolved to captivate one and run home with him as a proof of their 

 having killed none but the enemies of their country. Accordingly, 

 they approached very near to Keeowhee, a))out half a nnl(> l)elow the 

 late Fort Prince George. Advancing with the usual caution on such 

 an occasion, one crawled along under the best cover of the place about 

 the distance of a hundred yards ahead, while the other shifted from 

 tree to tree, looking sharply every way. In the evening, however, an 

 old, beloved man discovered them from the toj) of an adjoining hill, 

 and knew them to be enemies by the cut of their hair, light trim for 



