358 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.an.n.19 



nuiiiiny, and their postures. He rctiiriiod to the town and called 

 first at the house of one of our traders and informed him of the atlair. 

 enjoining him not to mention it to any, lest the people sliould set otf 

 against them witliout sueeess before their tracks were to be discovered 

 and he he charged with having deceived them. But, contrary to the 

 true policy of tradei's among unforgiving savages, that thoughtless 

 member of the Choktah iSphynx Company t)usied himself, as usual, out 

 of his proper sphere, sent for the headmen, and told them the story. 

 As the Mohawks were allies and not known to molest any of the tra- 

 ders in the paths and woods, he ought to have observed a strict neu- 

 trality. The youth of the town, by order of their headmen, carried 

 on their noisy public diversions in their usual manner to prevent their 

 foes from having any suspicion of their danger, while runners were 

 sent from the town to their neighbors to come silently and assist 

 them to secure the prey in its state of security. They came like silent 

 ghosts, concerted their plan of operation, passed over the river at the 

 old trading ford opposite to the late fort, which lay between two con- 

 tiguous commanding hills, and, proceeding downward over a ))road 

 creek, formed a large semicircle from the river l)ank, while the town 

 seemed to be taking its usual rest. The}' then closed into a narrower 

 compass, and at last discovered the two Ijrave, unfortunate men lying- 

 close under the tops of some fallen young pine trees. The company 

 gave the war signal, and the Mohawks, bounding up, bravely repeated 

 it; but, by their sudden spring from under thick cover, their arms were 

 useless. They made desperate efforts, however, to kill or be killed, as 

 their situation required. One of the Cheerake, the noted half-breed 

 of Istanare [Ustana'li] town, which lay 2 miles from thence, was at the 

 first onset knocked down and almost killed with his own cutlass, which 

 was wrested from him, thougli he was the strongest of the whole 

 nation. But they were overpowered by numbers, captivated, and put 

 to the most ex(iuisite tortures of fire, amidst a prodigious crowd of 

 exulting foes. 



One of the present Choktah traders, who was on the spot, told me that 

 when they were tied to the stake the 3'ounger of the two discovered our 

 traders on a hill near, addressed them in English, and entreated them 

 to redeem their lives. The elder immediately spoke to him, in his 

 own language, to desist. On this, he recollected himself, and became 

 composed like a stoic, manifesting an indiflerence to life or death, 

 pleasure or pain, according to their standard of martial virtue, and 

 their dying behaviour did not reflect the least dishonor on their former 

 gallant actions. All the pangs of fierj^ torture served only to refine 

 their manly spirits, and as it was out of the power of the traders to 

 redeem them they, according to our usual custom, retired as soon as 

 the Indians began the diabolical tragedy.'' — Adair, American Indians, 

 p. 383, 1775. 



