The braves leaped, danced, and whooped.
I closed my eyes.

Then a sharp, shrill yell pierced the air, and in another moment something touched my neck.

It was not the scorching flames I dreaded.

I opened my eyes.

A hideous face, copper-colored, distorted by a loving grin, was close to mine; a pair of arms were about my neck--a pair of woman's arms! They were those of a ferocious and ugly squaw, old enough to be my mother.