The claims of the surviving sufferers were now modified; they
supplicated merely to suffer death by the weapons of their enemies; they
were willing to bear that, provided they should be allowed to escape
from the flames; but no--the horrors of the conflagration were
calmly and malignantly gloried in by their merciless assassins, who
deliberately flung them back into all their tortures. In the course of
a few minutes a man appeared upon the side-wall of the house, nearly
naked; his figure, as he stood against the sky in horrible relief, was
so finished a picture of woebegone agony and supplication, that it is
yet as distinct in my memory as if I were again present at the scene.
Every muscle, now in motion by the powerful agitation of his sufferings,
stood out upon his limbs and neck, giving him an appearance of desperate
strength, to which by this time he must have been wrought up; the
perspiration poured from his frame, and the veins and arteries of his
neck were inflated to a surprising thickness. Every moment he looked
down into the flames which were rising to where he stood; and as he
looked, the indescribable horror which flitted over his features might
have worked upon the devil himself to relent. His words were few:--
"My child," said he, "is still safe, she is an infant, a young crathur
that never harmed you, or any one--she is still safe.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182