NEW ENGLAND STORIES.



and wrongs are told in the following vivid manner by
Mr. Crafts:
   " The hardships endured by the prisoners, and the
cruelty suffered at the hands of their captors, were
terrible, even to adults; and to a child of such a ten-
der age, who fared no better than the rest, they must
have been fearful indeed. They were divided as prizes
among the captors, and the little girl, separated from
the others, became the property of one of the Indians,
who was probably neither better nor worse than the
others; but she was subjected to many cruel threats,
suffered for want of food, and was abused by squaws
and Indian children. Once her master, placing her
against a tree, loaded his gun, as if he intended to
shoot her. But whether he repented of his purpose,
or it was merely an idle and cruel threat, he con-
tented himself with terrifying her. She was pushed
into a river by a squaw, but fortunately succeeded in
saving herself from drowning by catching at some
bushes on the bank. She was left asleep in the wil-
derness, while the Indians went on their way, careless
whether or not she perished; but fear lent her strength
and speed, and following their tracks in the snow, she
at last overtook them, glad, even in their cruel com-
pany, to escape from the deathly solitude of the woods.
At last the frequent threats of the Indian boys, that
she was soon to be burnt to death, seemed to henr
about to be realized. A large fire had been kindlec
and her master calling her to him, told her she must
be roasted alive. It may have been an idle threat,
but the cruel impulses of the savages sometimes led



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