10 FRONTIER FORTS AND SETTLEMENTS. [17G3, Juve. 



the humane interference of a Frenchman ; but at 

 length his captors resolved to burn him alive. He 

 was tied to the stake, and the fire was kindled. As 

 the heat grew intolerable, one of the Indians 

 handed to him a bowl filled with broth. The 

 wretched man, scorching with fiery thirst, eagerly 

 snatched the vessel, and applied it to his lips ; but 

 the liquid was purposely made scalding hot. With 

 a sudden burst of rage, he flung back the bowl and 

 its contents into the face of the Indian. " He is 

 mad ! he is mad ! " shouted the crowd ; and though, 

 the moment before, they had been keenly antici- 

 pating the delight of seeing him burn, they hastily 

 put out the fire, released him from the stake, 

 and set him at liberty.^ Such is the superstitious 

 respect which the Indians entertain for every form 

 of insanity. 



While the alarming incidents just mentioned 

 were occurring at Fort Pitt, the garrison of Fort 

 Ligonier received yet more unequivocal tokens of 

 hostility ; for one morning a volley of bullets was 

 sent among them, with no other effect, however, 

 than killing a few horses. In the vicinity of Fort 

 Bedford, several men were killed ; on which the 

 inhabitants were mustered and organized, and the 

 garrison kept constantly on the alert. A few of 

 the best woodsmen were formed into a company, 

 dressed and painted like Indians. A party of the 

 enemy suddenly appeared, whooping and brandish- 

 ing their tomahawks, at the skirts of the forest ; 

 on which these counterfeit savages dashed upon 



1 Heckewelder, Hist. Ind. Nat. 250. 



