a had taken care to render the life of little Rosetta Millbanks
safe, and had secured to her as much comfort as circumstances would
permit.

[Footnote 14: In the action at Piqua here referred to, Simon Girty
commanded three hundred Mingoes, whom he withdrew on account of the
desperation with which the whites fought.]

[Footnote 15: This was a peculiar characteristic of this great chief,
as drawn from the pages of history; and the more peculiar, that he was
a fierce, determined warrior, and the very last to hold out against a
peace with his white enemy. But there were some noble traits in the man;
and when, at last, he was wrought upon to sign the treaty of Greenville,
in 1795--twenty-four years after the date of the foregoing events--so
keen was his sense of honor, that no entreaty nor persuasion could
thenceforth induce him to break his bond; and he remained a firm friend
of the Americans to the day of his death. He was opposed to burning
prisoners, and to polygamy, and is said to have lived forty years with
one wife, rearing a numerous family of children.--_See Drake's Life of
Tecumseh_.]

[Footnote 16: The reader will bear in mind, that these events transpired
during the American Revolution; that the Indians were, at this time,
allies of the British; who paid them, in consequence, regular annuities,
at Upper Sandusky.]

[Footnote 17: This was a customary proceeding of the savages at that
day, with all prisoners doomed to death.]

CHAPTER XIV.

HISTORICAL EVENTS.

From the first inroads of the whites upon what the Indians considered
their lawful possessions, although by them unoccupied--namely, the
territory known as Kan-tuck-kee--up to the year which opens our story,
there had been scarcely any cessation of hostilities between the two
races so antagonistical in their habits and principles. Whenever an
opportunity presented itself favorable to their purpose, the savages
would steal down from their settlements--generally situated on the
Bottom Lands of the principal rivers in the present State of Ohio--cross
over _La Belle Riviere_ into Kentucky, and, having committed as many
murders and other horrible acts as were thought prudent for their
safety, would return in triumph, if successful, to their homes, taking
along with them scalps of both sexes and all ages, from the infant to
the gray-beard, and not unfrequently a few prisoners for the amusement
of burning at the stake.

These flying visits of t