he shifted his position. The hump still appeared, and the balls
still flew around it, until the Dutchman losing all patience, raised
his head above the gunnel, and in a tone of querulous remonstrance,
called out, 'Oh now! quit tat tamned nonsense, tere, will you!' Not
a shot was fired from the boat. At one time, after they had partly
regained the current, Captain Ward attempted to bring his rifle to
bear upon them, but so violent was the agitation of the boat, from the
furious struggles of the horses, that he could not steady his piece
within twenty yards of the enemy, and quickly laying it aside, returned
to the oar. The Indians followed them down the river for more than an
hour, but having no canoes they did not attempt to board; and as the
boat was at length transferred to the opposite side of the river, they
at length abandoned the pursuit and disappeared. None of the crew, save
the young man already mentioned, were hurt, although the Dutchman's
seat of honor served as a target for the space of an hour; and the
continental captain was deeply mortified at the sudden, and, as he said,
'unaccountable' panic which had seized him. Captain Ward himself was
protected by a post, which had been fastened to the gunnel, and behind
which he sat while rowing."[53]

"In October, a party of emigrants were attacked near Scagg's Creek, and
six killed. Mrs. McClure, with four children, ran into the woods, where
she might have remained concealed, if it had not been for the cries of
her infant, whom she could not make up her mind to abandon. The Indians
guided to her hiding-place by these cries, cruelly tomahawked the three
oldest children, but made her prisoner with her remaining child. Captain
Whitley, with twenty-one men, intercepted the party on its return, and
dispersed them, killing two, and wounding the same number. The prisoners
were rescued. A few days after, another party of emigrants were
attacked, and nine of them killed. Captain Whitley again pursued the
Indians. On coming up with them, they took to flight. Three were killed
in the course of the pursuit; two by the gallant Captain himself. Some
other depredations were committed this year, but none of as much
importance as those we have mentioned."

These acts of hostility on the part of the Indians led to the adoption
of measures for the defense of the Colony, to which we shall presently
call the reader's attention.

"Although," says Perkins,[54] "Kentucky grew rapidly d