t, much after the manner of the Sioux; the red post was
struck, and the braves and attendants painted their faces. When the
plan of attack was agreed on, every warrior looked to his weapons;
neither bow nor arrow, war-club nor scalping-knife, was left
unexamined. There was an earnestness in their preparation, as though
they were all animated with one spirit.

It was some time after sundown, that we left the village at a quick
pace. Runners were sent out in all directions, to give notice of an
enemy. We hastened along a deep valley, rounded the base of a bluff,
and entered the skirt of a forest, following each other in files
beneath the shadowy branches. We then passed through some deep grass,
and stole silently along several defiles and ravines. The nearer we
drew to the Blackfoot village, the more silently and stealthily we
proceeded. Like the panther, creeping with noiseless feet on his prey,
we stole along the intricate pathways of the prairie bottoms, the
forest, the skirt of the river and the hills and bluffs. At last we
made a halt, just as the moon emerged from behind a cloud.

_Austin._ Then there was terrible work, I dare say.

_Hunter._ It was past midnight, and the Blackfoot village was wrapped
in slumber. The Crow warriors dispersed themselves to attack the
village at the same instant from different quarters. The leader had on
his full dress, his medicine bag, and his head-dress of war-eagle
plumes. All was hushed in silence, nearly equal to that of the grave;
when suddenly the shrill war-whistle of the Crow chief rung through
the Blackfoot lodges, and the wild war-whoop burst at once from a
hundred throats. The chief was in the thickest of the fight. There was
no pity for youth or age; the war-club spared not, and the tomahawk
was merciless. Yelling like fiends, the Crow warriors fled from hut to
hut, from victim to victim. Neither women nor children were spared.

_Brian._ Dreadful! dreadful!

_Hunter._ Though taken thus by surprise, the Blackfoot braves, in a
little time, began to collect together, clutching their weapons
firmly, and rushing on their enemies, determined to avenge their
slaughtered friends. The panic into which they had been thrown
subsided, and, like men accustomed to danger, they stood not only in
self-defence, but attacked their foes with fury.

_Austin._ I wonder that every one in the Blackfoot village was not
killed!

_Hunter._ In civilized life, this would very likely have bee