with a long staff, picked up all the grass and weeds that we trailed down
by going over them. By taking that precaution they avoided detection; for
each weed was so nicely placed in its natural position that no one would
have suspected that we had passed that way. It is the custom of Indians
when scouting, or on private expeditions, to step carefully and where no
impression of their feet can be left--shunning wet or muddy ground. They
seldom take hold of a bush or limb, and never break one; and by observing
those precautions and that of setting up the weeds and grass which they
necessarily lop, they completely elude the sagacity of their pursuers, and
escape that punishment which they are conscious they merit from the hand
of justice.

After a hard day's march we encamped in a thicket, where the Indians made
a shelter of boughs, and then built a good fire to warm and dry our
benumbed limbs and clothing; for it had rained some through the day. Here
we were again fed as before. When the Indians had finished their supper
they took from their baggage a number of scalps and went about preparing
them for the market, or to keep without spoiling, by straining them over
small hoops which they prepared for that purpose, and then drying and
scraping them by the fire. Having put the scalps, yet wet and bloody, upon
the hoops, and stretched them to their full extent, they held them to the
fire till they were partly dried and then with their knives commenced
scraping off the flesh; and in that way they continued to work,
alternately drying and scraping them, till they were dry and clean. That
being done they combed the hair in the neatest manner, and then painted it
and the edges of the scalps yet on the hoops, red. Those scalps I knew at
the time must have been taken from our family by the color of the hair. My
mother's hair was red; and I could easily distinguish my father's and the
children's from each other. That sight was most appaling; yet, I was
obliged to endure it without complaining.