106 MYTHS OF THK IROQUOIS 



A solemu council was held. All the warriors agreed that he had borue 

 the tortures well, and had stuff in him to make a warrior. " He may 

 forget," they said. Still others disagreed and gave their opinion that 

 he ought to be tried still more severely. The majority finally decided 

 that he must die, and in three days should be burned at the stake. 



When the day arrived a large fire of pine knots was prepared, and 

 they bound the lad to a stake, and placed him in the midst. Torches 

 were ready to set fire to them, when an old warrior suddenly approached 

 from the forest. It was the chief who had trained other captive Indians. 

 He stood and looked at the boy. Then he said, "His eye is bright. I 

 will take him. I will make a warrior of him. I will inflict our last 

 torture upon him, and if he survives I will adopt him into the tribe." 

 He cut the thongs that bound the boy, and led him away to a spring. 

 " Drink ! " he said. And as the lad stooped, he pressed him down under 

 the water until he was well nigh strangled. Three times he subjected 

 him to this barbarity; then as he was still alive, although very weak, 

 he took him to his wigwam and dressed his feet, and told him henceforth 

 he should be an Illinois. No one guessed that revenge was in his heart. 



Time passed. He became a man. He had a chief's daughter as his 

 wife. The tribe thought ho had lost all memory of his capture. He fol- 

 lowed the customs of the Illinois, and was as one of them. He was 

 named Ga-gehdjo-wi1. They did not permit him to join them in their 

 warlike expeditious, but he joined in their war dances when they re- 

 turned. And so as the years passed on he was much esteemed for his 

 feats as a hunter, and his strength and endurance were by-words among 

 the Illinois. 



He had been fifteen years among them when he heard them speak of 

 an expedition against the Senecas. He begged to join, and they listened 

 with delight when he declared that he, Gageh-djo-wd, would bring home 

 more scalps than any. "He is one of us," they said, and gave him the 

 permission he craved. 



Early in the morning the warriors started, and, delighted with his 

 eloquence and readiness to go against his own tribe, they elected him 

 chief of the expedition. They marched on and on for many days, little 

 guessing how his heart beat as they approached the wigwams of the 

 Seneca settlement. He began to issue orders for the attack. "Send 

 scouts," he said, "to the sugar camp, and let them hide in a bush, and 

 return and tell us what they have seen." 



Two warriors obeyed his directions, but returned saying there were no 

 signs of the tribe. Then he sent others in a different direction. Their 

 report was the same. Ashes everywhere, they reported, but no smoke 

 and no fires. The Senecas must have left. Then at the council held 

 that night Ga-gehdjowS. proposed to go himself, with another warrior. 

 This was agreed to, and they set out together. When they had gone 

 five or six miles, the wily chief said to his companion, " Let us sep- 

 arate and each take a different pathway. You go over the hills ; I 



