d, as I thought, by some faint groans; but none of
the others heard them, and I thought I might have been mistaken. It
was concluded that he was merely shouting in accordance with our
instructions, and no further notice was taken of the affair. At that
instant several horses came galloping by at full speed, passing within
a few yards of us, and, following them, we could discern half-a-dozen
mounted Indians. We guessed the truth at once. They had cut the bridles
of our horses, and were driving them away to rejoin their fellows,
which had been stolen from us in the morning. We levelled our rifles
and fired--reloaded, and fired again; and then, in the midst of a
chorus of hallooing and screaming from the camp just before us, and the
loud bellowing of the retreating Indians, started off in pursuit, and
soon succeeded in turning our animals round, the Indians vanishing as
rapidly as they had appeared.

Securing our steeds, we walked them back in the direction of the spot
where we had left Horry, and, after some trouble, succeeded in finding
the exact place, when, to our horror, we found the poor fellow quite
dead, his body covered with blood, and his head and face dreadfully
disfigured. A closer examination showed us that the poor lad, after
being murdered, had been scalped by the savages. "Yes, yes," said the
old trapper, "sure enough his scalp is dangling in the belt of one of
them devils. G----d! I'll send an ounce of lead through the first
red-skin I meet outside them clearings. We'll have vengeance--we will."

As soon as I was a little recovered from the horror which this scene
naturally caused, I returned with the old trapper to the spot where I
had left Malcolm and Bradshaw, hardly expecting, after what I had just
witnessed, to find either of them alive. I was, however, happy in my
fears not being realized. They were both as I had left them. We carried
the wounded man as well as we could between us back to the place where
the remainder of the party were waiting for us. Here we stayed till
daybreak, silent and dejected. For my own part I could have wept. That
rough sailor lad, though under other circumstances I might have looked
down on him with contempt, and not have cared one straw whether he was
dead or alive, had been one of a little society, every member of which
had grown upon me in the rude life we had lived together in this
wilderness, and I felt that I had lost a friend.

The day broke at last, and, after re