“O Nathan, have I ever lived in another form than this? I certainly could never have been here before. I cannot understand it.�
“Not unless you have been here in a dream.� At the word, Lissa started.
“Ah, I know now. I remember! It is a dream! It is written down in my journal. I wrote it when I first began to keep a journal, many years ago. The dream made such an impression upon me, I wrote it down, and a description of the scene. I have frequently read it over since.�
“What happened here, do you remember?�
“No, I could not remember at the time, but I awoke with great fright, trying to cry out, with the feeling that I had been passing through some terrible experience, with this scene clearly imprinted upon my consciousness.�
“It is a very strange coincidence, Lissa, but this is the place where a white man was flayed alive a number of years ago by the Indians.�
“Ah, I remember reading of it, and how horrible it was.�
“The man brought the punishment upon himself. He wantonly shot an Indian woman. It was a terrible method of torture, however. He was flayed before the eyes of his friends, and afterwards burned, I am told.�
“Oh, dreadful, dreadful!�
“The remainder of the party were allowed to go, I believe, after being made to witness his suffering and death. I used to know the man when I lived in Illinois,� Nathan added. “Remember, it is not so many years ago. We are to go among the same tribe of Indians. Probably those who committed the outrage are still living.�