. The back-woodsmen; or, Tales of the borders; a collection of historical and authentic accounts of early adventure among the Indians. lt, and uttering a fiendish yell,raised it in the air, and then let it fall swiftly, appar-ently with the intention of burying it in the boyshead. But, quickly changing his purpose, he checkedthe weapon, restored it to his belt, and then, clutchingthe youth by the hair, seized his knife, and passed itssharp point dexterously around the scalp. Paralyzedwith terror, McCullough sank fainting to the reviving, his ears were greeted with a series ofsharp, s
. The back-woodsmen; or, Tales of the borders; a collection of historical and authentic accounts of early adventure among the Indians. lt, and uttering a fiendish yell,raised it in the air, and then let it fall swiftly, appar-ently with the intention of burying it in the boyshead. But, quickly changing his purpose, he checkedthe weapon, restored it to his belt, and then, clutchingthe youth by the hair, seized his knife, and passed itssharp point dexterously around the scalp. Paralyzedwith terror, McCullough sank fainting to the reviving, his ears were greeted with a series ofsharp, short yells; and, venturing to look at the In-dians, he saw them rolling on the ground, convulsedwith merriment, and giving utterance to the most ex-travagant bursts of laughter. The rude treatment which he had received fromthe facetious Indian did not encourage the boy toseek another opportunity of ascertaining whether hisfears were well or ill-grounded. He was, however,fully persuaded that the scalp which the savage car-ried was that of his father; and, thoroughly disheart-ened by this dreadful conviction, he gave up in despair. THE CAPTIVITY OF JOHN McCULLOUGH. 187 fearing that a similar fate would soon be his ownportion. Toward the close of this day, the party crossed abroad road, in sight of a waste house, and, proceed-ing about a quarter of a mile further on, they atetheir supper, and encamped for the night. Immedi-ately after passing the road, the thought suddenlyflashed across the mind of young McCullough thatthey were in a country occupied by white settlers;and that, if he could succeed in getting away, hemight, by following the highway, soon find protectorsand friends. Filled with the idea of fortunate escape and happyreturn, he waited until the Indians were asleep; andthen, gently awakening his brother, who lay by hisside, whispered to him to rise and prepare for , to his great astonishment and disgust, the childrefused to stir, saying that the Indians would
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