us in the night, and one can easily
imagine the confusion and consternation that everywhere prevailed. To
realize our situation one must remember that most of the men and about
all of the guns had gone south. I shall never forget the awful suspense
and dread that prevailed in our home as the family sat in a group
through the long weary hours of that night, anxiously awaiting the
return of the day, yet dreading what the day might bring forth. Horses
were gathered and securely tied about the house, and such arms as we
possessed made ready for instant use. At last day broke, and searching
with the eye the almost boundless prairie, no enemy was in sight.

As the sun rose above the rim of the distant mountains my father
determined to disprove or verify the rumor. Neighbors sought to dissuade
him, but mounting a swift horse he started for Brownsville on the
Calapooya. Meantime everything was in readiness for forting up should it
become necessary. The day wore on, still no news. In vain we gazed from
the house top over the prairie for a sight of a horseman. Doubt and
uncertainty as to the fate of my father and our own fate was almost
worse than death. The day wore on. Would father never return--had he
been killed? were the questions whispered one with another. My mother
alone was confident, relying on father's discretion and the further fact
that he was riding the swiftest horse in the Territory. At last near
sunset we descried him galloping leisurely toward home. When within a
short distance he settled into a walk, and we then knew that the danger,
at least for the present, was not imminent. The only emotion manifested
by my mother was a stray tear that coursed down her pale and
trouble-worn cheek. My father reported a false alarm, originating in the
overwrought imagination of settlers on the exposed margin of the valley.

At other times the alarm came from the west side of the river. Fears
were entertained that the savages from the south would cross over the
Calapooya mountains and attack the settlements in Lane county. One
settler had a large bass drum, and the beating of this, which could be
heard for miles, was the signal of danger. More than once the deep roll
of the drum roused the country, only to discover that it was a false
alarm. But these constant alarms were trying indeed, especially on the
timid and nervous, and women became almost hysterical on the most
trivial occasions.

Time wore on, and at length the news