ad cleared quite a space of ground around his hut, and
was raising a supply of corn and potatoes ample for his family wants.
With these vegetable productions, and with the game which the rifle
supplied them, they lived in abundance, and free from most of those
cares which agitate a higher civilization.

But the old man was quite agitated in receiving and entertaining his
unwelcome guests. He was an adopted Creek, and ought to be in sympathy
with his nation. He was bound to regard the white men as his enemies,
to withhold from them all important information, and to deliver them up
to the Creeks if possible. Should he be suspected of sympathy with the
white men, the tomahawk of the savage would soon cleave his brain. He
entreated Crockett immediately to leave him.

"Only an hour ago," said he, "there were ten Creek warriors here, all
on horseback, and painted and armed. Should they come back and discover
you here, they would certainly kill you all, and put me and my family
to death also."

But Crockett, instead of being alarmed by this intelligence, was only
animated by it. He assured Radcliff that he could desire no better luck
than to meet a dozen Indians on the war-path. He considered his party
quite strong enough to meet, at any time, three times their number.
Evening was approaching, and the full moon, in cloudless brilliance,
was rising over the forest, flooding the whole landscape with
extraordinary splendor. After feeding their horses abundantly and
feasting themselves from the fat larder of their host, they saddled
their steeds and resumed their journey by moonlight.

The trail still led through the silent forest. It was, as usual, very
narrow, so that the horses walked along in single file. As there was
danger of falling into an ambush, not a word was spoken, and, as
noiselessly as possible, they moved onward, every eye on the eager
lookout. They had been thus riding along when Crockett, in the advance,
heard the noise of some animals or persons apparently approaching. At a
given signal, instantly the whole party stopped. Every man grasped his
rifle, ready in case of need, to leap from his horse, and select the
largest tree near him as a rampart for the battle.

All solicitude was, however, soon dispelled by seeing simply two
persons advancing along the trail on Indian ponies. They proved to be
two negro slaves who had been captured by the Indians, and who, having
escaped, were endeavoring to make their way