But cruelly as he had suffered already there was worse yet to come, for, having removed the last vestige of clothing, they tied him to a tree, and set to work to surround him with brushwood.
"Merciful Heaven, they are going to burn me!" he groaned. "If they would only kill me first! How can I stand the terrible torture?"
Nevertheless he nerved himself to bear the awful ordeal, not deigning to utter a cry for mercy.
The savages were evidently impressed by his heroic bearing, and delayed lighting the wood, while they danced about him, brandishing their tomahawks in his face, and trying to make him flinch from their pretended blows.
In the midst of their fiendish frolicking there fell a sudden shower of rain which soaked the wood so that it would not light, and this seemed to offer some hope of a respite for their victim. But no sooner had the rain ceased than the merciless wretches resumed their horrid preparations, and this time succeeded in surrounding him with a circle of brushwood which they set on fire, and then yelled and danced before him in delight at his vain endeavors to avoid the rising flames.
His case certainly seemed desperate to the last degree. Thus far he had held the hope that his tormentors might stop short of taking his life in order to carry him back to Canada as a trophy of their prowess, but when the fire began to scorch his naked limbs he gave himself up to despair.
The flames were climbing to his waist. A few more minutes and it would have been all over with him, when into the midst of the dancing, yelling crowd there burst a stalwart figure shouting in French:
"You red devils, what are you about? How dare you torture one of our prisoners like that and disgrace us all? If I had known what you were about I would have put a stop to it before this."
It was Marin, the Canadian leader of the war party, who, on hearing what was taking place, had with courageous humanity rushed to the scene, determined to interpose at all hazards.
Nor was he content with upbraiding the Indians for their cruelty, but dashed at the blazing brushwood, tore it away from Seth, cut his bonds with a slash of his knife, and dragged him out of danger.