"In the Indian fashion!"
And taking his knife, he seized with his left hand the half-breed's thick and tangled head of hair, and with the greatest dexterity scalped him.
The hunter could not restrain a cry of frightful agony at this unexpected mutilation. The blood flowed in torrents from his bare skull, and inundated his face.
"Kill me! kill me!" he said, "this pain is horrible!"
"Do you find it so?" said the captain.
"Oh! kill me! kill me!"
"What!" said the captain, shrugging his shoulders, "do you take me for a butcher? No, I will restore you to your worthy friends."
He then took the hunter by the legs, and dragging him to the edge of the platform, pushed him with his foot.
The miserable creature instinctively endeavoured to hold himself up by seizing, with his left hand, the extremity of a post which projected outward.
For an instant he remained suspended in space.