Page:Cathlamet On the Columbia.djvu/180



1if such a custom prevailed the elevation of the red box was made more in pride than in humility. "I have slain" it said, and no ordinary Indian had much compunction in this or thought it lowered him in the estimation of his fellows.

If the young SkookumTillicum hoisted such a signal in the feverish times of a general war, and the settlers had known that he was boasting of an accomplished murder, it is more than likely that they would have taken it for granted t|hat his message was, "I have slain, I have slain. Go thou and do likewise," and would probably have promptly disposed of young Skookum Tillicum.

This strange red box might well therefore have been a confession, a boast and a call to war all in one, and people as quick as are the