"Hiadeoni was the father of the late chief Young-king. He was a Seneca
warrior, a man of great prowess, dexterity, and swiftness of foot,
and had established his reputation for courage and skill on many
occasions. He resolved while the Seneca were still living on the
Genesee river to make an incursion alone into the country of the
Cherokee. He plumed himself with the idea that he could distinguish
himself in this daring adventure, and he prepared for it, according to
the custom of warriors. They never encumber themselves with baggage. He
took nothing but his arms and the meal of a little parched and pounded
corn. The forest gave him his meat.
Hiadeoni reached the confines of the Cherokee country in safety
and alone. He waited for evening before he entered the precincts of
a village. He found the people engaged in a dance. He watched his
opportunity, and when one of the dancers went out from the ring into
the bushes he dispatched him with his hatchet. In this way he killed
two men that night in the skirts of the woods without exciting alarm,
and took their scalps and retreated. It was late when he came to a
lodge, standing remote from the rest, on his course homeward. Watching
here, he saw a young man come out, and killed him as he had done the
others, and took his scalp. Looking into the lodge cautiously he saw
it empty, and ventured in with the hope of finding some tobacco and
ammunition to serve him on his way home.
While thus busied in searching the lodge he heard footsteps at the
door, and immediately threw himself on the bed from which the young
man had risen, and covered his face, feigning sleep. They proved to be
the footsteps of his last victim's mother. She, supposing him to be her
son, whom she had a short time before left lying there, said, "My son,
I am going to such a place, and will not be back till morning." He
made a suitable response, and the old woman went out. Insensibly he
fell asleep, and knew nothing till morning, when the first thing he
heard was the mother's voice. She, careful for her son, was at the
fireplace very early, pulling some roasted squashes out of the ashes,
and after putting them out, and telling him she left them for him to
eat, she went away. He sprang up instantly and fled; but the early
dawn had revealed his inroad, and he was hotly pursued. Light of
foot, and having the start, he succeeded in reaching and concealing
himself in a remote piece of woods, where he laid till night, and then
pursued his way toward the Genesee, which, in due time he reached,
bringing his three Cherokee scalps as trophies of his victory and
prowess."--Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, p. 253, 1847.