Across their brawny chests ran a broad bar of flaming red paint; hideous designs in black and white covered their faces.

Every head had been clean-shaven except where the scalp lock bristled like a porcupine's quills.

Each warrior carried a plumed spear, a tomahawk, and a rifle.

The shining heads, with the little tufts of hair tied tightly close to the scalp, were enough to show that these Indians were on the war-path.
From the back of one of the foremost horses a slender figure dropped and darted toward the prisoner at the stake.

Surely that wildly flying hair proved this was not a warrior.