When the retreat began, the
Indians hurried him along with them, stripped of coat, waistcoat, shoes,
and stockings, his back burdened with as many packs of the wounded as
could be piled upon it, and his wrists bound so tightly together that
the pain became intense. In his torment he begged them to kill him; on
which a French officer who was near persuaded them to untie his hands
and take off some of the packs, and the chief who had captured him gave
him a pair of moccasons to protect his lacerated feet. When they
encamped at night, they prepared to burn him alive, stripped him naked,
tied him to a tree, and gathered dry wood to pile about him. A sudden
shower of rain interrupted their pastime; but when it was over they
began again, and surrounded him with a circle of brushwood which they
set on fire. As they were yelling and dancing their delight at the
contortions with which he tried to avoid the rising flames, Marin,
hearing what was going on forward, broke through the crowd, and with a
courageous humanity not too common among Canadian officers, dashed aside
the burning brush, untied the prisoner, and angrily upbraided his
tormentors. He then restored him to the chief who had captured him, and
whose right of property in his prize the others had failed to respect.
The Caughnawaga treated him at first with kindness; but, with the help
of his tribesmen, took effectual means to prevent his escape, by laying
him on his back, stretching his arms and legs in the form of a St.
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