with the Algonquin language; he
could hold some conversation with the captive. The victim, pale and
terror-stricken, entreated the Frenchmen to intercede for him, that his
execution might be postponed until the next day. Again they renewed
their efforts to save the boy. They offered to pay a large amount of
their most valuable effects for his ransom. But the Indians shook their
heads and said, "It is our custom: he must die."

A large fire had been kindled near by. In it there was a long
gun-barrel heated to a red heat. An Indian warrior, a staid, sober man,
came forward with much dignity of manner, and taking the red-hot
gun-barrel pressed it upon the soles of the victim's feet, and moved it
slowly up his legs. The skin and flesh smoked and crackled under the
terrible infliction. The agony was such that the poor boy could not
refrain from loud shrieks, and he was thrown into the most convulsive
contortions.

The savages--the stern men, the women, the girls, the boys--were
delighted. As they listened to the shrieks and witnessed the agonizing
struggles of their victim, they clapped their hands, and danced and
shouted in fiend-like exultation. The heated iron was passed over his
whole body, from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. There
was not a spot left which was not blistered and roasted. And still they
carefully avoided touching any vital point, that the horrible torture
might be continued as long as possible.

For six hours this poor creature endured every variety of agony which
diabolical ingenuity could inflict. I will not continue the narration.
It is too harrowing to be contemplated. But it is needful to go thus
far to show what the Indians were without the Gospel. Galinee writes:

"At length they knocked him down with a stone, and throwing
themselves upon him, cut his body in pieces. One carried off his
head, another an arm, a third some other member, which they put in
the pot to boil for a feast. Many offered some to the Frenchmen,
telling them there was nothing in the world better to eat; but no
one desired to try the experiment.

"In the evening all assembled in the public place, each with a
stick in his hand, with which they began to beat the cabins on all
sides, making a very loud noise, to chase away, they said, the soul
of the deceased, which might be concealed in some corner to do them
injury."

This scene took place in Western New York, a m