Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/349

THE INDIANS. companion), who had all but avowed the commission of a former act of blood. I shall give the reasons which led to this conclusion, as they furnish a favourable specimen of Indian logic; though it is but fair to add that they were the fruit of the united wisdom of the whole camp, extracted by slow degrees, and matured in many long and smoky conferences. Edahadelly, on his return to the camp on the day of the murder, reported that he had seen at a distance two suspicious-looking strangers, who were never heard of afterwards, nor were even their tracks seen by the other hunters, who were out in various directions the same day. On one of the bodies being brought in by those who went to look for the missing girls, he set about conjuring, which he pretended revealed to him the place where the other corpse lay, and its position; also that, after being mortally wounded, the poor little girl had applied a piece of leather to her side to stop the effusion of blood. All these particulars were verified; Edahadelly himself leading the way to the fatal spot, and afterwards taking upon him the duty of interring the body, in order, the Indians said, to entitle him, without confessing the deed, to assume certain marks upon the wrists and neck—the same which, by their superstition, a murderer wears.