example; by which means, no less than fifty discharges were
made, in quick succession, until the flesh of the old man, from the neck
downwards, was completely filled with burnt powder. Younker uttered a
few groans, but bore all with manly fortitude, and made no complaints.

This part of the hellish ceremony over, a fire was kindled of hickory
poles, placed in a circle round the stake, outside of that which his
rope allowed Younker to make, in order that he might feel all the
torments of roasting alive, without being sufficiently near to the flame
to get a speedy relief by death. To add even more torture, if possible,
to this infernal proceeding, the Indians would take up brands, and place
the burning parts against the old man's body; and then, as they saw him
cringe and writhe under the pain thus inflicted, would burst into horrid
laughs, in which they were ever joined by the renegade. The old squaws
too, and even the children, not wishing to be outdone in this refinement
of cruelty, would take slabs, and having loaded them with live coals and
ashes, would throw them upon his head and body, until not only both
became covered, but the ground around him, so that there was no cool
place for his feet; while at every new infliction of pain, the crowd
would break forth in strains of wild, discordant laughter.

Thus passed some three-quarters of an hour of tortures the most
horrible, during which the old man bore up under his sufferings with
a strength and manliness that not only astonished his tormentors, but
excited for himself, even in savage breasts, a feeling of respect.
Girty, it may be, was moved to a similar feeling; for at length,
advancing to his victim, he said, in a tone of more deference than he
had hitherto used:

"You bear up well, old man--well. I have seen many a one die, in a
similar way, who was thought to be courageous--yet none with that
firmness you have thus far displayed."

Younker, who was slowly walking around the stake, with his face bent
toward the earth, suddenly paused, as Girty addressed him, and turning
his eyes mildly upon the renegade, in a feeble voice, replied:

"My firmness is given me from above. I can bear my torments, Simon
Girty, for they're arthly, and will soon be over; but yourn--who'll say
what yourn'll be, when you come to answer afore Almighty God for this
and other crimes! But that arn't for the like o' me to speak of now. I'm
a dying man, and trust soon to be in a better wo