Lonesome Dove, Volume 2: Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry

AHUMADO HAD NEVER had a captive who behaved like the small americano, Captain Scull. Most captives despaired once they realized they were in a place they could never get out of, except by death. In his experience, Americans made poor captives. He had had old Goyeto try to skin several Americans-traders, miners, travelers who happened to travel the wrong road-but they all died before Goyeto had got very far with the skinning. Even if he only skinned an arm or a leg the Americans usually died. They were weak captives, the whites. Once he had had a small Tarahumara Indian from the north who had stood at the skinning post without making a sound while Goyeto took his whole skin off-that Tarahumara had been an exceptional man. Ahumado decided to shelter him and feed him well-he thought it was possible that the man might grow a new skin; but the man took no food and didn't profit much from the shade he was given. He died after three days, without having grown any new skin.

Once or twice Ahumado had tried sticking Americans on the sharpened trees, but there again they had turned out to be disappointing captives, dying after much screaming before the sharpened tree had penetrated very far into their bowels. The Comanches and Apaches he captured on the whole did much better, although it was not unknown for one of them to disgrace himself. Once, though, he put an Apache who had stolen a woman on the sharpened tree and the Apache lived for two days even after the sharp point of the tree had come out behind his shoulder blade. No Comanche and so far no whites had done so well.