f of the captives were tomahawked on the spot. The others
were stripped of clothing, their faces blackened, their hands bound
behind them, and were driven forward to the Allegheny, where, just
across from Fort Duquesne, a stake had been set in the river's bank.
Arrived there, the prisoners began to understand the fate prepared for
them, yet they could not believe. A hundred yards away across the river
stood the walls of the fort, crowded with soldiers, the fair lilies of
France waving lazily above their heads. Calmly they watched the terrible
preparations,--Contrecoeur, Dumas, and all the others,--and not one
raised a hand to rescue those unhappy men, or uttered a word to mitigate
their torture. From dark to dawn the flames shimmered across the
water,--for the English went to their fate singly,--and things were done
to turn one sick with horror; yet did the French look tranquilly from
their bastions and joke one to another. Our flag, thank God, has never
been sullied by a deed like that!

Early the next morning, the Indians started westward to their homes,
laden with booty, sated with slaughter, leaving the French to take care
of themselves as best they might. The latter remained for a week in great
fear of another attack, which they would have been quite unable to
withstand, little thinking that our army was fleeing back to the
settlements with feet winged by an unreasoning terror.

We reached Gist's plantation at ten o'clock on the night of the tenth,
and here we were compelled to stop because of our own exhaustion and the
great suffering of the general. And here, early the next morning, came
Colonel Washington, sitting his cushioned saddle like some gaunt
spectre, and bringing with him wagons loaded with provision. The general
still persisted in the exercise of his duties, despite his suffering, and
he at once detailed a party to proceed toward the Monongahela with a
supply of food, for the succor of the stragglers and the wounded who had
been left behind,--a duty which was ill fulfilled because of the
cowardice of those to whom it was intrusted. Meanwhile we pushed on, and
reached Dunbar's camp that night.

We found it in the utmost confusion. At five o'clock on the morning after
the battle, a teamster, who had cut loose his horse and fled at the first
onset, had ridden madly into the camp crying that the whole army was
destroyed and he alone survived. At his heels came other teamsters, for
with an appalling cowar