I was with him, and saw more naked backs
than naked faces among your people, that day. Your Great Bear got a
rap on his nose that sent him to his village yelping like a cur."
Again was the corporal compelled to stop to take breath. The
allusion to Wayne, and his defeat of the Indians, excited so much
ire, that several hands grasped knives and tomahawks, and one arrow
was actually drawn nearly to the head; but the frown of Bear's Meat
prevented any outbreak, or actual violence. It wa's deemed prudent,
however, to put an end to this scene, lest the straightforward
corporal, who laid it on heavily, and who had so much to say about
Indian defeats, might actually succeed in touching some festering
wound that would bring him to his death at once. It was,
accordingly, determined to proceed with the torture of the saplings
without further delay.
The corporal was removed accordingly, and placed between the two
bended trees, which were kept together by withes around their tops.
An arm of the captive was bound tightly at the wrist to the top of
each tree, so that his limbs were to act as the only tie between the
saplings, as soon as the withes should be cut.
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