Having completed their purposes, and made as much havock as possible, they immediately retire towards their own country, with the spoil they have acquired, for fear of being pursued.
Should this be the case, they make use of many stratagems to elude the searches of their pursuers. They sometimes scatter leaves, sand, or dust over the prints of their feet; sometimes tread in each others footsteps; and sometimes lift their feet so high, and tread so lightly, as not to make any impression on the ground. But if they find all these precautions unavailing, and that they are near being overtaken, they first dispatch and scalp their prisoners, and then dividing, each endeavours to regain his native country by a different route. This prevents all farther pursuit; for their pursuers now despairing, either of gratifying their revenge, or of releasing those of their friends who were made captives, return home.
If the successful party is so lucky as to make good their retreat unmolested, they hasten with the greatest expedition to reach a country where they may be perfectly secure; and that their wounded companions may not retard their flight, they carry them by turns in litters, or if it is in the winter season draw them on sledges.
Their litters are made in a rude manner of the branches of trees. Their sledges consist of two small thin boards about a foot wide when joined, and near six feet long. The fore part is turned up, and the sides are bordered with small bands. The Indians draw these carriages with great ease, be they ever so much loaded, by means of a string which passes round the breast. This collar is called a Metump, and is in use throughout America, both in the settlements and the internal parts. Those used in the latter are made of leather, and very curiously wrought.
The prisoners during their march are guarded with the greatest care. During the day, if the journey is over land, they are always held by some of the victorious party; if by water, they are fastened to the canoe. In the night-time they are stretched along the ground quite naked, with their legs, arms, and neck fastened to hooks fixed in the ground. Besides this, cords are tied to their arms or legs, which are held by an Indian, who instantly awakes at the least motion of them.
Notwithstanding such precautions are usually taken by the Indians, it is recorded in the annals of New England, that one of the weaker sex, almost alone, and unassisted, found means to elude the vigilance of a party of warriors, and not only to make her escape from them, but to revenge the cause of her countrymen.
Some years ago, a small band of Canadian Indians, consisting of ten warriors attended by two of their wives, made an irruption into the back settlements of New England. They lurked for some time in the vicinity of one of the most exterior towns, and at length, after having killed and scalped several people, found means to take prisoner a woman who had with her a son of about twelve years of age. Being satisfied with the execution they had done, they retreated towards their native country, which lay at three hundred miles distance, and carried off with them their two captives.
The second night of their retreat, the woman, whose name, if I mistake not, was Rowe, formed a resolution worthy of the most intrepid hero. She thought she should be able to get from her hands the manacles by which they were confined, and determined if she did so to make a desperate effort for the recovery of her freedom. To this purpose, when she concluded that her conquerors were in their soundest sleep, she strove to slip the cords from her hands. In this she succeeded; and cautioning her son, whom they had suffered to go unbound, in a whisper, against being surprized at what she was about to do, she removed to a distance with great wariness the defensive weapons of the Indians, which lay by their sides.
Having done this, she put one of the tomahawks into the hands of the boy, bidding him to follow her example; and taking another herself, fell upon the sleeping Indians, several of whom she instantly dispatched. But her attempt was nearly frustrated by the imbecility of her son, who wanting both strength and resolution, made a feeble stroke at one of them, which only served to awaken him; she however sprung at the rising warrior, and before he could recover his arms, made him sink under the weight of her tomahawk; and this she alternately did to all the rest, except one of the women, who awoke in time, and made her escape.
The heroine then took off the scalps of her vanquished enemies, and seizing also those they were carrying away with them as proofs of their success, she returned in triumph to the town from whence she had so lately been dragged, to the great astonishment of her neighbours, who could scarcely credit their senses, or the testimonies she bore of her Amazonian intrepidity.