366 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.I9 



Cherokee came upon them and carried them otL When the people of 

 the town learned what had happened, they decided not to go after the 

 enemy for fear they would kill the wom<^n. so they made no pui'suit. 



The Cherokee carried the women with them until the}' were within 

 one day of the Cherokee towns. The elder sister learned this and 

 made up her mind to try to escape. She had a knife without a handle 

 hidden under her belt, and that night when all lay down to sleep by 

 the tire she kept awake. When they were sleeping soundly, she looked 

 around. She and her sister were tied together, and on each side of 

 them was a Cherokee with the end of the rope under his body on the 

 ground. Taking out her knife, she cut the rope without waking the 

 men, and then rousing her sister (|uietly she whispered to her to come. 

 They were going to leave the little boy. but he started to cr\', so she 

 said, "Let us die together," and took him up on \wr back, and the 

 two women hurried away. In a little while they heard an alarm 

 behind them, and knew that their escape was discovered, and then 

 the}' saw the blazing pine knots waving through the trees where the 

 Cherokee were coming on looking for them. The women knew the 

 Cherokee would hunt for them toward the north, along the trail to 

 the Seneca country, so they made a circuit and went around to the 

 south until they came in sight of a tire and saw a man sitting by a 

 tree, shaking a rattle and singing in a low voice. They found the}' had 

 come directly back to the enemy's camp, so the older sister said, "This 

 will never do; we must try again. Let us go straight ahead to that 

 big tree in front, and from that straight on to the next, and the next." 

 In this way they kept on a straight course until morning. When the 

 sun came up, they took another direction toward home, and at night 

 the\- rested in the woods. 



■ They traveled all the next day, and at night rested again. In the 

 night a voice spoke to the younger woman, "Is that where you are 

 resting^" and she answered, "Yes." The voice said again, "Keep 

 on, and you will come out at the spot where you were captured. No 

 harm will come to you. To-morrow you will find food." She roused 

 her sister and told her what the voice had said. 



In the morning they went on and at noon found a buck freshly killed. 

 Near b}' they found a log on fire, so they roasted some of the meat, 

 had a good meal, and earrii'd away afterwards as much of the meat as 

 they could. They kept on, camping every night, and when the meat 

 was nearly gone they saved the rest for the little boy. 



At last one night the voice spoke again to the younger sister and 

 said, "You are on the right road, and to-morrow you will he on the 

 border of the Seneca country. You will find food. That is all." 



In the morning she told her older sister. They started on again and 

 walked until about noon, when they came to a patch of wild potatoes. 

 They dug and found plenty, and as they looked around they saw smoke 



