sticks. In a few minutes, a large stake was fixed in the
ground, and piles of hickory poles were spread around it.

Colonel Crawford's hands were then tied behind his back; a strong rope was
produced, one end of which was fastened to the ligature between his
wrists, and the other tied to the bottom of the stake. The rope was long
enough to permit him to walk round the stake several times and then
return. Fire was then applied to the hickory poles, which lay in piles at
the distance of six or seven yards from the stake.

The colonel observing these terrible preparations, called to Girty, who
sat on horseback, at the distance of a few yards from the fire, and asked
if the Indians were going to burn him. Girty replied in the affirmative.
The colonel heard the intelligence with firmness, merely observing that he
would bear it with fortitude. When the hickory poles had been burnt
asunder in the middle, Captain Pipe arose and addressed the crowd, in a
tone of great energy, and with animated gestures, pointing frequently to
the colonel, who regarded him with an appearance of unruffled composure.
As soon as he had ended, a loud whoop burst from the assembled throng, and
they all rushed at once upon the unfortunate Crawford. For several
seconds, the crowd was so great around him, that Knight could not see what
they were doing; but in a short time, they had dispersed sufficiently to
give him a view of the colonel.

His ears had been cut off, and the blood was streaming down each side of
his face. A terrible scene of torture now commenced. The warriors shot
charges of powder into his naked body, commencing with the calves of his
legs, and continuing to his neck. The boys snatched the burning hickory
poles and applied them to his flesh. As fast as he ran around the stake,
to avoid one party of tormentors, he was promptly met at every turn by
others, with burning poles, red hot irons, and rifles loaded with powder
only; so that in a few minutes nearly one hundred charges of powder had
been shot into his body, which had become black and blistered in a
dreadful manner. The squaws would take up a quantity of coals and hot
ashes, and throw them upon his body, so that in a few minutes he had
nothing but fire to walk upon.

[Illustration: CAPTAIN PIPE.]

In the extremity of his agony, the unhappy colonel called aloud upon
Girty, in tones which rang through Knight's brain with maddening effect:
"Girty! Girty!! shoot me through the hea