As it would be some time before the flames would touch Hamilton,
though his sufferings from heat would be excruciating in a little while,
murdering him by slow inches, Durant hoped that the sufferings and
reflections of this interval would bring repentance at the eleventh hour,
and cause his victim to plead for mercy on his own terms.
The fiery circle kept drawing nearer and nearer, narrowing the space
between life and death at every moment; yet no groan escaped the lips of
Hamilton; and he evinced the steady and unflinching heroism of a martyr. At
a sign from Durant, the Indians prepared themselves with long splinters,
which were to be fired at one end, and then driven into the flesh of the
sufferer; the guns were loaded with powder, to be fired against the naked
person of the prisoner when the signal should be given. Hamilton saw all
these preparations, but they shook not his firm resolve for a moment. His
proud soul rose above all the horrors of the scene, and remained calm in
the dignity of its earthly despair and eternal hopes. He knelt down by the
stake and engaged in prayer:
"Oh, Father! give me strength to endure this trial by fire! Forsake me not
in this hour of extremity, but send Thy ministering angels to strengthen
and sustain my spirit, that it faint not with the consuming flesh! And, oh,
God! protect Thy persecuted daughter, and save, oh, save her from the grasp
of the destroyer! Let not the wicked triumph! my God, let not the wicked
triumph! but shield, oh, shield the innocent! Thou art He who canst do
wonders; make known Thy power in the rescue and salvation of the afflicted
child of misfortune from the hands of the spoiler! Not for myself, but for
her, I implore Thee for deliverance! Oh, hear my prayer in her behalf, and
send help in the hour of need!"
Durant listened to this prayer in spite of himself; there was a something
about it which held him spell-bound, fascinated; and he forgot, for the
moment, that his followers were awaiting his orders--everything, in fact,
but the one scene before him, the man on his knees at the stake.
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