warriors would be immediately on their trail.
Without a moment's rest they rode all night, the next day and the next
night, and on the morning of the second day reached the banks of the
Ohio river. The flood of that majestic stream flowed broad and deep
before them, and its surface was lashed into waves by a very boisterous
wind. The horses could not swim across in such a gale, but their desire
to retain the invaluable animals was so great that they resolved to wait
upon the banks until sunset, when they expected the wind to abate.
Having been so well mounted and having such a start of the Indians, they
did not suppose it possible that their pursuers could overtake them
before that time.

"Night came, but with it an increase of the fury of the gale, and the
stream became utterly impassable. Early in the morning Kenton, who was
separated from his companions, observed three Indians and a white man,
well mounted, rapidly approaching. Raising his rifle, he took steady aim
at the breast of the foremost Indian, and pulled the trigger. The powder
flashed in the pan. Kenton took to his heels, but was soon overtaken and
captured. The Indians seemed greatly exasperated at the loss of their
horses. One seized him by the hair and shook his head 'till his teeth
rattled.' The others scourged him severely with their ramrods over the
head and face, exclaiming at every blow, 'Steal Indian hoss, hey!'

"Just then Kenton saw Montgomery coming boldly to his assistance.
Instantly two Indian rifles were discharged, and Montgomery fell dead.
His bloody scalp was waved in the face of Kenton, with menaces of a
similar fate. Clark had sought safety in flight. Kenton was thrown upon
the ground upon his back. His neck was fastened by a halter to a
sapling; his arms, extended to their full length, were pinioned to the
earth by stakes; his feet were fastened in a similar manner. A stout
stick was passed across his breast, and so attached to the earth that he
could not move his body. All this was done in the most violent and cruel
manner, accompanied by frequent cuffs, and blows, as the maddened
Indians called him in the broken English which they had acquired, 'a
tief, a hoss steal, a rascal,' which expressions the Indians had learned
to intersperse with English oaths.

"In this condition of suffering Kenton remained through the day and
through the night. The next morning the savages having collected their
scattered horses, put Kenton upon a young