fetid odor filled the air, and flies and mosquitoes began to increase the captive’s sufferings. The English held that mosquitoes did not bite the Indians, and while this was not literally true, yet it was a fact, as David had observed, that the troublesome insects had less liking for the savages than for those of white blood. Perchance the boy’s stained skin deceived the pests into mistaking him for a savage, since, while they bothered him greatly by alighting upon him, they seemed not to sting save infrequently. But the flies, a particularly bloodthirsty sort whose bodies gleamed in the sunlight like green jewels, cared not what color the skins of their victims might be and so proved of more painful annoyance than the mosquitoes. Fortunately, the cedar despite its twisted, misshapen body, provided fair shade from the sun’s hot rays as the morning progressed and David was spared one form of torture.
None heeded him. The hours passed and the heat of the August day increased, and David’s thirst became well-nigh intolerable. Altering the position of his body within the scant allowance of the thongs that held him no longer brought surcease from pain. His arms ached in every muscle and nerve, and
