40. Captured by the Indians
BY JOHN GYLES (1736)[101]
ON the second spring of my captivity my Indian master and his
squaw went to Canada; but sent me down the river with several Indians
to the Fort, in order to plant corn. The day before we came to the
planting field we met two young Indian men, who seemed to be in
great haste. After they had passed us I understood that they were going
with an express to Canada, and that there was an English vessel at the
mouth of the river. I, not perfect in the language, nor knowing that
English vessels traded with them in time of war, supposed a peace was
concluded on, and that the captives would be released; and was so
transported with the fancy that I slept but
little, if at all, that night. Early the next morning we came to the village,
where the ecstasy ended, for I had no sooner landed but three or four
Indians dragged me to the great wigwam, where they were yelling and
dancing round James Alexander, a Jerseyman, who was taken from
Falmouth, in Casco Bay. This was occasioned by two families of Cape
Sable Indians, who had lost some friends by a number of English
fishermen, and came some hundred of miles to revenge themselves on
the poor captives! They soon came to me, and tossed me about till I
was almost breathless, and then threw me into the ring to my fellow
captive, and took him out again, and repeated their barbarities to him.
And then I was hauled out again by three Indians, by the hair of my
head, and held down by it, till one beat me on the back and shoulders
so long that my breath was almost beat out of my body. And then
others put a tomahawk into my hand, and ordered me to get up and
dance and sing Indian, which I performed with the greatest reluctance;
and in the act I was resolute to purchase my death, by killing two or
three of those monsters of cruelty, thinking it impossible to survive
their bloody treatment. But it was impressed on my mind, "'Tis not in
their power to take away your life"; so I desisted.
Then those Cape Sable Indians came to me again like bears
bereaved of their whelps, saying, "Shall we, who have lost relations by
the English, suffer an English voice to be heard among us?" etc. Then
they beat me again with the axe. Then I repented that I had not sent two
or three of them out of the world before me, for I thought that I had
much rather die than suffer any longer. They left me the
second time, and the other Indians put the tomahawk into my hand
again, and compelled me to sing. And then I seemed more resolute than
before to destroy some of them; but a strange and strong impulse that I
should return to my own place and people, suppressed it as often as
such a motion rose in my breast. Not one of the Indians showed the
least compassion; but I saw the tears run down plentifully on the
cheeks of a Frenchman that sat behind; which did not alleviate the
tortures that poor James and I were forced to endure for the most part
of this tedious day; for they were continued till the evening; and were
the most severe that ever I met with in the whole six years that I was
captive with the Indians.
After they had thus inhumanly abused us, two Indians took us
up and threw us out of the wigwam, and we crawled away on our hands
and feet, and were scarce able to walk for several days. Some time
after, they again concluded on a merry dance, when I was at some
distance from the wigwam dressing leather, and an Indian was so kind
as to tell me that they had got James Alexander, and were in search of
me. My Indian master and his squaw bid me run as for my life into a
swamp and hide, and not to discover myself, unless they both came to
me, for then I might be assured the dance was over. I was now master
of their language, and a word or a wink was enough to excite me to
take care of myself. I ran to the swamp, and hid in the thickest place
that I could find. I heard hollowing and whooping all around me;
sometimes they passed very near, and I could hear some threaten, and
others flatter me, but I was not disposed to dance; and if
they had come upon me I resolved to show them a pair of heels, and
they must have had good luck to have caught me.
I heard no more of them till about evening (for I think I slept),
when they came again, calling "Chon, Chon," but John would not trust
them. After they were gone, my master and his squaw came where they
told me to hide, but could not find me; and when I heard them say with
some concern, that they believed that the other Indians had frightened
me into the woods, and that I was lost, I came out, and they seemed
well pleased, and told me that James had had a bad day of it; that as
soon as he was released he ran away into the woods, and they believed
he was gone to the Mohawks. James soon returned and gave me a
melancholy account of his sufferings; and the Indians' fright
concerning the Mohawks passed over.
They often had terrible apprehension of the incursion of the
Mohawks.[102] One very hot season a
great number gathered together at the village; and, being a very thirsty
people, they kept James and myself night and day fetching water from
a cold spring that ran out of a rocky hill about three-quarters of a mile
from the fort. In going thither, we crossed a large intervale, or meadow,
and then a descent to a lower intervale before we ascended the hill to
the spring. James, who was almost dead as well as I, with this continual
fatigue, laid a plan to fright the Indians. He told me of it, but conjured
me to secrecy, yet said he knew that I could keep counsel. The next
dark night James, going for water, set his kettle on the descent to the
lowest intervale, and ran back to the fort, puffing and blowing, as in the
utmost
surprise, and told his master that he saw something near the spring, that
looked like Mohawks (which he told me on the sly were stumps). His
master, who was a most courageous warrior, went with James to make
discovery, and when they came to the brow of the hill, James pointed
to the stumps, and withal touched his kettle with his toe, which gave it
motion down hill, and at every turn of the kettle the bail clattered; upon
which James and his master could see a Mohawk in motion in every
stump, and turned tail
to, and he was the best man that could run fastest. This alarmed all the
Indians in the village. Though about thirty or forty in number, they
packed off, bag and baggage, some up the river and others down, and
did not return under fifteen days; and as the heat of the weather was
finely over, our hard service abated for this season. I never heard that
the Indians understood the occasion of the fright, but James and I had
many a private laugh about it.
My most intimate and dear companion was one John Evans, a
young man taken from Quochecho. As often as we could, we met
together, and made known our grievances to each other, which seemed
to ease our minds; but when it was known by the Indians, we were
strictly examined apart, and falsely accused, that we were intending to
desert. But we were too far from the sea to have any thought of that;
and when they found that our stories agreed, we received no
punishment. An English captive girl about this time (who was taken by
Medocawando) would often falsely accuse us of plotting to desert, but
we made the truth so plainly appear, that she was chidden and we
released.
The third winter of my captivity James went into the country,
and the Indians imposed a heavy burden on him, though he was
extreme weak with long fasting; and as he was going off the upland
over a place of ice which was very hollow, he broke through, fell
down, and cut his knee very much. Notwithstanding, he travelled for
some time; but the wind and cold were so forcible, that they soon
overcame him, and he sat or fell down, and all the Indians passed by
him. Some of them went back the next day after him, or his pack, and
found him, with a dog in his
arms, both frozen as stiff as a stake. And all my fellow-captives were
dispersed and dead; but through infinite and unmerited goodness I was
supported and carried through all difficulties.
[[101]]
One of the most frequent dangers to the
pioneer was that of capture by the Indians. Such captives were held as
slaves, and kind-hearted Frenchmen sometimes bought them and sent
them home.
[[102]]
The Mohawks, one of the Iroquois tribes, were
the fiercest of the northern Indians.
