anyone by that name. The box was handed
around, and when John saw it, he started as though he had been struck.
He reached for it and almost grasped it from the Professor's hand, and
turned it over and over, and glanced at the initials, and then looked at
the Professor, and then at the boys, and his eyes ceased their
wanderings as he gazed at the chief.

[Illustration: _Fig. 2. The match safe._]

Could it be possible that his name was John L. V.? Was that his match
safe? What a wonderful possibility lay in these two happenings which
came so close together!

The chief, too, looked at the match safe, and when the Professor pointed
to John and then directed the captive's attention to the match safe, he
did it with the view of ascertaining whether or not he had ever seen
John. But to all these questionings the savage shook his head and
grunted a plain negative.

A careful watch had been kept during the entire day, in the hope that
the savages would reappear, and that the treatment of the chief would be
such as to predispose him in their favor, and thus open the way to
obtain such information as would be of service in aiding their
companions.

As night approached preparations were made to guard against any night
attack, and the prisoner was securely bound to prevent him from
obtaining any of the weapons. One singular thing about all of the
headgear and other articles of wear was the profusion of human hair,
which was worked into many of the garments or formed a prominent
decorative feature.

George was the first to notice this peculiarity. "Why is it that most
savage tribes take human hair or scalp their victims?"

"The North American Indian was noted for the custom of taking the scalp
of his enemies. It probably grew out of the desire to use the locks for
the purpose of decorations, just as you see in the case before you. In
olden times it was the custom of the vanquished to indicate submission
by plucking out a handful of hair and offering it to the victim as a
token of submission, but whether this grew out of the custom of
scalping, or whether the latter was an outgrowth of the hair token, is
not known."

"What interests me is, why they should take a portion of the skin if
they wanted the hair simply for decoration?"

"Principally because that was the easiest way to keep the lock intact.
Spencer, in his 'Evolution of Ceremonial Forms of Government,' relates
some curious things growing out of this custom of taki