And while I was striking one after another some one shouted to me from the stern. A Tlingit was lying upon one of our young men. And, pushing away his knife, I cut off his head. After that I saw some one who got in out of our canoe and a Tlingit strike each other at the same time. The Tlingit fell upon his breast. Some time after that he (the Haida) called to me: “So-and-so’s grandfather, they have broken my arm.” I looked at him. There was a wound in his right arm. They shot him from beneath hides lying near. I did not hear the sound of the gun. Neither did he hear it. Those who were with us instead [of helping us] stood near looking on. They were afraid.
After we had fought for a while, and had killed nearly all, I ran to the bow. The many women, who sat in two places, I pushed apart. I passed between them to the bow. Then the one who had concealed himself in the bow rose. When he was about to strike me, I struck him in the side. He at once tried to close with me. I kept striking him. By and by he died.
And in the stern out of Gana′-i’s canoe they struck a certain one. He jumped then into the water and struck the edges of the canoe with his knife. They jumped upon the Tlingit and stabbed him.
And after I had gone about in the bow for a while I looked toward the stern. They were already pulling in slaves. And when I went thither I saw a woman left. She had been shot in one leg. And I did not take her. One that I had struck acted as if he were crazy. Then I jumped into [our canoe], and, when I was about to stab him, he held up his hands to me. I then tied his legs together with a rope, and I tied his hands behind his back.
The property was captured at once. Into Gana′-i’s canoe they took ten severed heads. There were only nine slaves. And after Skᴀ′ngwai’s father had brought five heads into ours they found fault. He stopped then. And they took all the property.
In front of the place whence we had been wrangling a whale swam about with its young one. And we shot at the young one. We killed the young one. We took its oil to Port Simpson[13] to trade. There we bought all kinds of stuff. We carried the things away. And, when the canoes were filled with property, some was left behind.
The warriors now got in. And, as they went along, they began to sing war songs. It was hard for me. Two of my younger brothers were killed, and I sang differently from them.
When they were almost out of the inlet some one shouted “Ix̣iâ′⁺ī, they are pursuing us.” Full canoes were behind us. The canoes were close together. They were brave in Sg̣ā′gia’s canoe (the narrator’s). And the people in Gana′-i’s canoe began to paddle away from us. I then stood up and I said: “Chiefs whom I have for fathers-in-law and my sons-in-law’s nephews, do not tell a bad story [[368]]about us. For that we are out here. That is why they will kill us. Before they destroy us we will destroy a whole canoe load of them.”
After we had paddled away for a while in fright I looked back. Instead of my seeing them they were gone. It was nothing but driftwood, on the top of which sea gulls sat.
Then the people of Gana′-i’s canoe started a fire in a creek where there were many humpbacks. There they roasted humpbacks for us. When we were done eating we went away. We also gave food to the Tlingits.