trange
thoughts passed through my troubled brain. Occasionally I seemed to hear
the sharp report of a rifle; and then how came the blood on that
tomahawk? The Indian never appeared again, nor could there be any trace
of him found.

Roam on the high mountain's crest, fearless ranger,
The Indian no more shall dye his coarse blanket
In citizens' gore; he has left, aye, forever, the vales
Where you met him, and fought for my Nelly,
So gifted, so fair and so young.

CHAPTER IV.

The Oneida Indians came annually from the Valley of the Mohawk and the
Oneida reservation to the Valley of the Susquehanna, by their path down
the Valley of Adaca, to lay in their store of dried venison for the long
and dreary winters of this latitude, accompanied by their wives and
daughters, who prepared the meat taken in the hunt, dried and smoked it,
and put it in deerskin sacks ready to be conveyed to their winter
quarters. They always encamped at their place of rest at the outlet of
the Adaca Creek into the Susquehanna River, where they had planted an
orchard to supply them with apples during the fall hunt.

Mayall lived near their path where they usually stopped to make
inquiries and gain such information as was necessary to guide them where
deer were most numerous. They usually gave Mayall an invitation to join
the fall hunt, which was his favorite amusement at that season of the
year, being an expert in the game of hunting. The Indians gave Mayall
his full share of the venison and furs taken. They ranged the hills and
valleys in every direction from their camp at the place of rest, and
returned at night with their venison and furs, which they handed over to
their squaws to be dressed and dried, excepting such parts as would not
bear transportation, which were taken to supply the daily food of the
camp. A number of large gray wolves had been heard nightly from their
camp howling on the mountain south of the Susquehanna, which caused the
deer to leave the South Mountain and cross over to the hills on the
north side.

On the morning following one of their howling frolics, one of the
hunters shot and wounded a deer on the south side of the river. In their
endeavors to capture it they drove it up the mountain side. There were a
number of hunters joined in the chase, but as the hill grow steep and
rocky they all fell back and returned to camp but Mayall and two
Indians, who had now reached the high range of hills