alo skin: stakes were driven into the earth,
and his pinioned arms and legs were bound to them, while a halter, which
was passed round his neck and then round a sapling near by, kept him
from moving his head. All the while they were making sure in this
way that he should not escape, the Indians were cuffing his ears, and
reviling him for a "Tief! A hoss steal! A rascal!" In the morning they
mounted him on an unbroken colt, with his hands tied behind him and his
legs tied under the horse, and drove it into the briers and underbrush,
where his face and hands were torn by the brambles, until the colt
quieted down of itself, and followed in line with the other horses. The
third day, as they drew near the town of Old Chillicothe, where Boone
had been held captive, they were met by the chief Blackfish, who said
sternly to Kenton in English, "You have been stealing horses." "Yes,
sir." "Did Captain Boone tell you to steal our horses?" "No, sir, I did
it on my own accord." Blackfish then lashed him over the naked back with
a hickory switch till the blood ran, and with blows and taunts from all
sides Kenton was marched forward to the village.

The Indians could not wait for his arrival. They came out, men, women,
and children, to meet him, with whoops and yells, and when they had made
his captors fasten him to a stake, they fell upon him, and tore off all
that was left of his clothes, and amused themselves till midnight by
dancing and screaming round him, and beating him with rods and their
open hands. In the morning he was ordered to run the gantlet, through
two rows of Indians of all ages and sexes, armed with knives, clubs,
switches, and hoe handles, and ready to cut, strike, and stab at him as
he dashed by them on his way to the council house, a quarter of a mile
from the point of starting. But Kenton was too wary to take the risks
before him. He suddenly started aside from the lines; he turned and
doubled in his course, and managed to reach the council house unhurt
except for the blows of two Indians who threw themselves between him and
its door. Here a council was held at once, and he was sentenced to be
burnt at the stake, but the sentence was ordered to be carried out at
the town of Wapatimika on Mad River. A white renegade among the Indians
told him of his fate with a curse, and Kenton resolved that rather than
meet it he would die in the attempt to escape. On the way to Wapatimika
he gave his guard the slip and dashed i