proached and aimed at her a
blow. She tried to evade it; but it struck on the side of her neck,
though not with sufficient force to knock her down. She fell however,
and lay as if killed. Thinking their work of death accomplished here,
they took from a press some milk, butter and bread, placed it on the
table, and deliberately sat down to eat,--the little girl observing
all that passed, in silent stillness. When they had satisfied their
hunger, they arose, scalped the woman and boy, plundered the
house--even emptying the feathers to carry off the ticking--and
departed, dragging the little girl by the hair, forty or fifty yards
from the house. They then threw her over the fence, and scalped her;
but as she evinced symptoms of life, Schoolcraft observed "_that is
not enough_," when immediately one of the savages thrust a knife into
her side, and they left her. Fortunately the point of the knife came
in contact with a rib and did not injure her much.

Old Mrs. West and her two daughters, who were alone when the old
gentleman was taken, became uneasy that he did not return; and fearing
that he had fallen into the hands of savages (as they could not
otherwise account for his absence) they left the house and went to
Alexander West's, who was then on a hunting expedition with his
brother Edmund. They told of the absence of old Mr. West and [281]
their fears for his fate; and as there was no man here, they went over
to Jesse Hughes' who was himself uneasy that his daughter did not come
home. Upon hearing that West too was missing, he did not doubt but
that both had fallen into the hands of Indians; and knowing of the
absence from home of Edmund West, Jun. he deemed it advisable to
apprize his wife of danger, and remove her to his house. For this
purpose and accompanied by Mrs. West's two daughters, he went on. On
entering the door, the tale of destruction which had been done there
was soon told in part. Mrs. West and the lad lay weltering in their
blood, but not yet dead. The sight overpowered the girls, and Hughes
had to carry them off.--Seeing that the savages had but just left
them; and aware of the danger which would attend any attempt to move
out and give the alarm that night, Hughes guarded his own house until
day, when he spread the sorrowful intelligence, and a company were
collected to ascertain the extent of the mischief and try to find
those who were known to be missing.

Young West was found--standing in the creek