intonation of their voices, their angry glances, showed it. "Our
friends came here, and this man killed them. We came to look for them,
and by the same arts with which he destroyed them he had endeavoured to
destroy us. There are the proofs of his guilt. How else did he become
possessed of those arrows?" Such, I have no doubt, is a very concise
abridgment of their harangues.

They continued speaking for an hour or more, till they worked each other
up into a perfect fury. Their eyes gleamed at me with malignant hatred.
They foamed at the mouth; they gnashed their teeth at me. I thought
they would have torn me limb from limb; but they were reserving me for a
far more refined system of torture. Having condemned me to death, they
lashed my hands behind me, and my feet together, and placed me in a
sitting position on my bed, there to await my doom, while they all
crouched down round the fire, where, stern and grim, they finished the
repast I had prepared for them in horrible silence.

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE INDIANS PROPOSE TO KILL ME--I AM BOUND READY FOR THE TORTURE--MY
GUESTS FIND THE FIRE-WATER, AND I FIND THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING ABSTAINED
FROM IT--A FEARFUL CONFERENCE--A TOMAHAWK SENT AT MY HEAD--THE SPIRITS
TAKE EFFECT--I WORK MY LIMBS FREE--SHALL I KILL MY ENEMIES?--I FLY--A
RUN FOR LIFE--MY TERRIBLE JOURNEY--I SINK EXHAUSTED--A FRIENDLY INDIAN--
A KIND RECEPTION--I HAVE CAUSE TO REJOICE THAT I DID NOT REDDEN MY HANDS
WITH BLOOD.

The Indians sat round the fire, devouring with dreadful composure the
remainder of my scanty stock of provisions. I could not withdraw my
eyes from them. I felt as if I was in a horrid dream, and yet I was too
certain of the reality of what had occurred to doubt it. "Even were
they to spare my life, I must starve," I thought to myself, "so it
matters little what they do to me." They ate up all their own food and
all mine, till nothing remained. The Red man, although he can go a long
time without food, is a complete glutton when he gets a quantity, and is
utterly regardless of what may be his future exigencies. When they had
eaten up all the food exposed to view, they began to hunt about the tent
for more. I watched them anxiously, for I was afraid that they would
get hold of the gunpowder, and still more did I dread their finding the
brandy. The chief, a villainous-looking old warrior, was the most
active in the search. He went round and round the tent, poking his
finger