1763, M-^T.] EMBASSY OF CAPTAIN CAMPBELL. 239 



of tlie peril. The party had scarcely left the gate 

 when they were met by these men, breathless with 

 running ; but the warning came too late. Once 

 embarked on the embassy, the officers would not 

 be diverted from it ; and passing up the river road, 

 they approached the little wooden bridge that 

 led over Parent's Creek. Crossing this bridge, and 

 ascending a rising ground beyond, they saw before 

 them the wide-spread camp of the Ottawas. A 

 dark multitude gathered along its outskirts, and no 

 sooner did they recognize the red uniform of the 

 officers, than they all raised at once a horrible out- 

 cry of whoops and bowlings. Indeed, they seemed 

 disposed to give the ambassadors the reception 

 usually accorded to captives taken in war ; for the 

 women seized sticks, stones, and clubs, and ran 

 towards Campbell and his companion, as if to make 

 them pass the cruel ordeal of running the gauntlet.^ 

 Pontiac came forward, and his voice allayed the 

 tumult. He shook the officers by the hand, and, 



1 Wlien a party returned with prisoners, the whole population of the 

 village turned out to receive them, armed with sticks, clubs, or even 

 deadlier weapons. The captive was ordered to run to a given point, 

 usually some conspicuous lodge, or a post driven into the ground, while 

 his tormentors, ranging themselves in two rows, inflicted on him a mer- 

 ciless flagellation, which only ceased wlien he had reached the goal. 

 Among the Iroquois, prisoners were led through the whole confederacy, 

 undergoing this martyrdom at every village, and seldom escaping without 

 the loss of a hand, a finger, or an eye. Sometimes the sufferer was made 

 to dance and sing, for the better entertainment of the crowd. 



The story of General Stark is well known. Being captured, in his 

 youth, by the Indians, and told to run the gauntlet, he instantly knocked 

 down the nearest warrior, snatched a club from his hands, and wielded it 

 with such good-will that no one dared approach him, and he reached the 

 goal scot free, while his more timorous companion was nearly beaten to 

 death. 



