“No; Long Knife wants him not as a prisoner. Long Knife looks for more than that. He wants some sport—and he is going to have it.”
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Long Knife will give to the white boy’s mother a sight that will please her eyes. She shall see her son burnt at the stake.”
CHAPTER XXX
BACK TO THE CABIN—CONCLUSION
Joe had often heard of the extreme cruelties of the Indians, and now he was brought face to face with what might be expected of such a black-hearted warrior as Long Knife.
It was not enough that this rascal contemplated burning the young pioneer at the stake,—the most cruel death devised by the savages,—but he also calculated to inflict equal if not deeper pain on the youth’s mother by making the woman witness the torture of her offspring.
“Long Knife, you are a—a monster!” cried the boy, when he could find his tongue.
At these words the eyes of the Indian chief gleamed with cruel pleasure.
“The white boy is joyful over the news that Long Knife brings to him,” he remarked dryly.
“If you do this thing you will surely suffer for it.”