yell bolted into the forest and was soon lost to our sight.  This conduct instantly roused our fear; and with one accord we sprang to our feet.  We gazed around.  Turn which way we would, the grim visage of a painted warrior met our terrified gaze, with his tomahawk in one hand, and his rifle in the other.  “Perfidious villain,” exclaimed Ralph, “and this is an Indian’s faith.”  An Indian of gigantic size, dressed in all the gaudy trappings of a chief, now strode towards us.  Ralph raised his gun, and closed his eye as the sight of the weapon sought the warrior’s breast.  “Don’t shoot, and you will be treated friendly,” cried the savage in good English.  “So long as I live,” said Ralph, “I’ll never put faith again in an Indian’s word.”  The gun went off, and the savage, with an unearthly cry, bounded high in the air, and fell upon his face a corpse.  A scream, as if ten thousand furies had been suddenly turned loose upon the earth, rang around us; and ere we could start ten steps on our flight, we were seized by our savage foes, and, like the light barque when borne on the surface of the angry waves, were we borne, equally endangered, upon the shoulders of these maddened men.  We were thrown upon the earth, our hands and feet were bound till the cords were almost hidden in the flesh; and then, with the fury of madmen, they commenced beating us with clubs, when another chief, who appeared to be of higher standing than the one who had just lost his life, rushed into the crowd, hurling the excited warriors to the right and left in his progress, and mounting upon a log he harangued them for a few moments with a loud voice.  They at once desisted, perhaps reconciled by the prospect of soon seeing us burnt at the stake.  We were carried to their encampment, where we were still left bound, with two sentinels stationed to guard us.  In this painful state we remained all day; when towards evening another company of warriors arrived, and then vigorous preparations were made for burning us.  A stake was planted in the ground, and painted a variety of fantastic colors; the brush was piled around it at a proper distance; and every other necessary arrangement made; while we sat looking on, subject to the continual epithets of an old squaw, whose most consoling remarks were:  “How will white man like to eat fire,” and then she would break into a screeching laugh, which sounded perfectly hideous.  A cold chill pervaded my frame as I gazed upon these ominous signs of death; but how often is our misery but the prelude of joy.  At the moment that these horrid preparations were finished, a bright flash of lightning shattered a tall hickory, near by; and then the earth was deluged with rain.  The Indians sought the shelter, but left us beneath the fury of the storm, where we remained for several hours; but seeing that it increased rather than diminished, they forced us into a small log hut and leaving a man to guard us, bolted the door firmly and left us for the night.  What were our reflections