NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY OF WILLIAM BIGGS. Part 4.

The second day we started very early in the morning and traveled about

thirty-five miles, which was the 29th of March.

The third day we traveled about thirty miles, which was the 30th of

March. They killed a deer that day--in the evening they took the

intestines out of the deer and freed them of their contents, when they

put them in the kettles with some meat and made soup, I could not eat

any of it.

The fourth day we traveled about twenty-five miles. We stopped about 3

o'clock in the afternoon at a pond. They staid there all night. They had

some dried meat, tallow, and buffalo marrow, rendered up together,

lashed and hung upon a tree about twenty feet from the ground, which

they had left there in order to be sure to have something to eat on

their return. They killed two ducks that evening. The ducks were very

fat. They picked one of the ducks, and took out all its entrils very

nice and clean, then stuck it on a stick, and stuck the other end of the

stick in the ground before the fire, and roasted it very nice. By the

time the duck was cooked, one of the Indians went and cut a large block

out of a tree to lay the duck upon; they made a little hole in the

ground to catch the fat of the duck while roasting. When the duck was

cooked, they laid it on this clean block of wood, then took a spoon and

tin cup, and lifted the grease of the duck out of the hole and took it

to the cooked duck on the table, and gave me some salt, then told me to

go and eat. I sat by and eat the whole of the duck, and could have eat

more if I would have had anything more to eat, though I had no bread. I

thought I had never eat anything before that tasted so good. That was

the first meal I had eaten for four days. The other duck they pulled a

few of the largest feathers out off, then threw the duck, guts, feathers

and all into their soup-kettle, and cooked it in that manner.

The fifth day we traveled about thirty miles. That night I felt very

tired and sore, my hands, arms, legs and feet had swelled and inflamed

very much, by this time; the tying that night hurt me very much, I

thought I could not live until morning; it felt just like a rough saw

cutting my bones. I told the Indians I could not bear it, it would kill

me before morning, and asked them to unslack or unloose the wrist rope a

little, that hurt me the most. They did so, and rather more than I

expected, so much that I could draw my hands out of the tying, which I

intended to do as soon as I thought the Indians were asleep. When I

thought the Indians were all asleep I drew my right hand out of tying,

with an intention to put it back again before I would go to sleep, for

fear I should make some stir in my sleep and they might discover me.

But, finding so much more ease, and resting so much better, I fell

asleep before I knew it, without putting my hand back into the tying.

The first thing I knew about 3 o'clock in the morning, an Indian was

sitting astraddle me, drawing his tomahawk and rubbing it across my

forehead, every time he would draw a stroke with the pipe of his

tomahawk, he threatened to kill me, and saying I wanted to run away; I

told him to kill away. I would as leave die as live. I then told him I

was not able to run away. He then got off me, and the rest of the

Indians were all up immediately. They then held a short council and

agreed to tie me as tight as ever, and they did so. I got no more sleep

that night. I never asked them to loose my ropes any more.