During that interval several of the Indians were seen to run to the group of prisoners and bring forward the young fellow named Paul Broker.
In a twinkle the hunting shirt was ripped off the young pioneer and he was hurled flat on his back on the ground. While he was being held there by two red men others tied cords to his wrists and ankles and these were afterward secured to four short stakes driven securely in the soil.
“They are going to torture that young man!” exclaimed Mr. Winship in horror.
After the victim was so secured that he could scarcely move some of the Indians began to dance around him, uttering the words of a wild song and flourishing their tomahawks and scalping knives. Occasionally one would leap forward and make a move as if to cut off the nose or gouge out an eye of the victim.
They thought by this to make the young man cry out in fear and beg for mercy, but Paul Broker had learned the lesson that the Indian is merciless when it comes to torturing an enemy and so he remained mute.
The girl and women prisoners shrieked in horror at the scene and, unable to stand the sight, one woman fainted dead away.
Burning fagots were now brought forward and the Indians prepared to place them upon the naked breast of the victim. One fagot was held close to his face, so that his eyebrows were singed.
While this was going on, Boone crawled from one to another of his party and gave a few hurried directions.
It was now growing dark, and, keeping as much in the shadows of the hill as possible, the hunters moved over the ridge and down close to the Indian encampment.
The Indians around Paul Broker were just on the point of placing the fagots upon the victim’s breast when Daniel Boone gave the order to open fire.