Page:Barbour--Metipoms Hostage.djvu/251

Rh 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