1763, JuNE.J ESCAPE OF ALEXANDER HENRY. 345 



four Indians entered the room, all armed with 

 tomahawks, and all besmeared with blood, upon 

 every part of their bodies. 



" The die appeared to be cast. I could scarcely 

 breathe ; but I thought the throbbing of my heart 

 occasioned a noise loud enough to betray me. The 

 Indians walked in every direction about the garret ; 

 and one of them approached me so closely, that, at 

 a particular moment had he put forth his hand, he 

 must have touched me. Still I remained undiscov- 

 ered ; a circumstance to which the dark color of 

 my clothes, and the want of light, in a room which 

 had no window in the corner in which I was, must 

 have contributed. In a word, after taking several 

 turns in the room, during which they told M. Lang- 

 lade how many they had killed, and how many 

 scalps they had taken, they returned downstairs ; 

 and I, with sensations not to be expressed, heard 

 the door, which was the barrier between me and 

 my fate, locked for the second time. 



" There was a feather bed on the floor ; and on 

 this, exhausted as I was by the • agitation of my 

 mind, I threw myself down and fell asleep. In 

 this state I remained till the dusk of the evening, 

 w^hen I was awakened by a second opening of the 

 door. The person that now entered was M. Lang- 

 lade's wife, who was much surprised at finding me, 

 but advised me not to be uneasy, observing that the 

 Indians had killed most of the English, but that 

 she hoped I might myself escape. A shower of 

 rain having begun to fall, she had come to stop a 

 hole in the roof. On her going away, I begged 



