d, and he, thinking, of
course, to cheer me, laughed almost merrily as he replied:

"Nonsense, lad, you are a long ways from bein' dead. I allow your body is
numbed, but that's all. If these strips of rawhide were slackened a bit,
you'd soon find yourself feelin' as well as ever, save, perchance, for the
blisters upon your hands."

"If we _could_ stretch them a bit," I cried, trying vainly to change the
position of my arms.

"Ay, but you can't, lad, an' by makin' the effort you'll only cause them
to bind the tighter."

How that long night passed I cannot well say. The agony of mind, together
with the bodily pain, benumbed all my senses until I was like one in a
trance, hearing nothing, seeing nothing, save the gleam of that white
face beneath the flap of the lodge where Peter Sitz kept mournful watch
upon us.

The morning came, and like one under the influence of some hideous
nightmare I became aware that the savages were loosening the rawhide
thongs. Faintly, with but little curiosity regarding the matter, I
wondered if we were to be killed at once, regardless of the usual customs
of such wretches.

When the bonds had been removed the sergeant and I sank down upon the
ground helpless, unable to move hand or foot, and in that condition we
were dragged into the lodge where was Jacob's father.

There we were bound quite as securely and cruelly as before, the thongs
cutting fresh welts into our wrists and ankles; but the relief caused by
the change of position was so great that it seemed as if I had every
reason for thankfulness.

Here, when our captors had made certain we could not by any possibility
escape, we were left alone with Peter Sitz, and his first question was as
to why we had ventured within reach of the enemy.

Sergeant Corney, minded to save our neighbor from the self-reproach which
might be his if he knew we were in such plight through desire to aid his
son or himself, replied that we had been sent into the vicinity by General
Herkimer, and then explained how we came across Jacob, as well was the
manner in which we had been taken prisoners.

"Will they torture us to death?" I asked, giving words to that question
which had been uppermost in my mind from the moment we saw the painted
sneaks approaching the cave, and Master Sitz replied, with a painful
effort at cheerfulness:

"It's for you to believe that they won't, lad. Remember how long I've been
in their power, an' yet have come to no real ha