e burning, and as they
passed along they saw that every cabin had been consumed. It was a
scene of utter desolation. The horses' feet splashed in pools of
clotted blood, while ever and anon they came to the mutilated remains
of some victim of the massacre. In one place lay the form of a brawny
pioneer, his broken rifle still clutched by the muzzle, while the
ground around him was torn up by the mighty struggle he had made with
his assailants. Here young children had been murdered by being dashed
against a tree. To an oak near by a woman had been nailed while yet
alive. All the corpses were horribly mangled and disfigured,
indignities the most fiendish being heaped upon them. Their ears and
noses were cut off, sticks were thrust into their eyes, and their
mouths were filled with filth.

These awful sights wrought up the soldiers to frenzy. Tom's passions
rose also; but he was startled by the deadly paleness that sat upon
the countenances of the others, so expressive of intensified hate and
desire for revenge. But the scouts again appeared, and reported a
large force of Indians encamped before a log house a few miles farther
on; and Captain Manly decided to strike for a piece of woods to the
right of the savages. When the woods were reached, it was discovered
that all the dwellings on either side of the besieged cabin,
comprising three promising young villages, had been swept away.
Cautiously the little company pushed on to the scene of action. Before
the lone cabin were assembled hundreds of Indians, engaged in some
savage ceremony.

"They have taken a captive," whispered Captain Manly, "and have
brought him near the cabin to tantalize the inmates, hoping to induce
them to make a sortie for the rescue of the prisoner."

"It is Long Hair!" replied Tom, wild with excitement.

"Be quiet, be quiet, my boy," replied the captain; "we'll be in
_their_ long hair before they get his, if they don't look sharp."

Then dividing his force into four companies of ten men each, and
directing them to crawl carefully through the long grass to the points
he designated near the foe, he instructed each man to be sure of his
aim, and fire when the captain's division fired. The Indians had been
so successful in their attacks on the settlements thus far, and so
unmolested in their barbarities, that they were now completely off
their guard, which enabled the whites to get close to them
unobserved.

Tom's eyes were fastened upon Long Hair