er, and took up camp for the
night. The next morning, Major Gibson and myself concluded we should
separate and take different directions to see what discoveries we could
make; so he took six of the men and I five. We were to meet that evening
where the roads came together, fifteen miles the other side of the
house of a Cherokee Indian named Dick Brown.

I and my men then started and went on to the place of meeting, but Major
Gibson was not there. We waited till almost dark, but still he didn't
come. We left the Indian trail a little distance and turning into the
head of a hollow, we struck up camp. We stayed next morning till after
breakfast; but in vain, for still the major didn't come.

We started ahead and went about twenty miles to the house of a man by
the name of Radcliff. He was a white man, but had married a Creek woman,
and lived just in the edge of a Creek nation. He had two sons, large,
likely fellows; and a great deal of potatoes and corn; so we fed our
horses and got dinner with him. But he was bad scared all the time; he
told us that there had been ten painted warriors at his house only an
hour before, and if we were discovered there, they would kill us, and
his family with us. I replied to him, that my business was to hunt for
just such fellows as he had described, and I was determined not to go
back until I had done it.

Our dinner being over we saddled up our horses and made ready to start;
but some of my small company I found were disposed to return. I told
them if we were to go back we should never hear the last of it; and I
was determined to go ahead. I know'd some of them would go with me and
the rest were afraid to go back by themselves; and so we pushed on to
the camp of some friendly Creeks, which was distant about eight miles.
The moon was about at the full, and the night was clear; we therefore
had the benefit of her light from night to morning, and I knew if we
were placed in such danger as to make retreat necessary, we could travel
by night as well as in the daytime. It was after dark when we got to the
camp, where we found about forty men, women and children.

They had bows and arrows, and I turned to shooting with their bows by
the pine light. In this way we amused ourselves very well for a while,
but at last a negro, who had been talking to the Indians, came to me and
told me they were very much alarmed, for the _Red Sticks_, as they
called the war party of the Creeks, would come and fi