It was part of the brushy tail of a raccoon, such as the borderers wore in their caps.
"Our men charged," said the Onondaga.
"Why do you say so ?" asked Robert.
"Because of the raccoon tail.

It was shot from the cap of one of the charging men.

The French and the Indians do not wear such a decoration.
See where the bullet severed it.

I think St.Luc's men must have broken and run before the charge, and we will look for evidence of it." They advanced in the direction of Champlain, and, two or three hundred yards farther on, Tayoga picked up a portion of an Indian headdress, much bedraggled.
"Their flight was headlong," he said, "or the warrior would not have lost the frame and feathers that he valued so much.

It fell then, before the storm, as the muddy and broken condition of the feathers shows that it was lying on the ground when the great rain came." "And here," said Robert, "is where a bullet went into the trunk of this big oak." "Which shows that the rangers and Mohawks were still pursuing closely.
It is possible that the French and Indians tried to make a brief stand at this place.