n, until at length, towards evening, they found
themselves in a wild valley, at a distance of six or seven miles from the
fort. Here Downing became alarmed and repeatedly assured his elder
companion, (whose name was Yates,) that he heard sticks cracking behind
them, and was confident that Indians were dogging them. Yates, being an
experienced hunter, and from habit grown indifferent to the dangers of the
woods, diverted himself freely at the expense of his young companion,
often inquiring, at what price he rated his scalp, and offering to ensure
it for sixpence. Downing, however, was not so easily satisfied. He
observed, that in whatever direction they turned, the same ominous sounds
continued to haunt them, and as Yates still treated his fears with the
most perfect indifference, he determined to take his measures upon his own
responsibility. Gradually slackening his pace, he permitted Yates to
advance twenty or thirty steps in front of him, and immediately after
descending a gentle hill, he suddenly sprung aside and hid himself in a
thick cluster of whortleberry bushes. Yates, who at that time was
performing some woodland ditty to the full extent of his lungs, was too
much pleased with his own voice, to attend either to Downing or the
Indians, and was quickly out of sight. Scarcely had he disappeared, when
Downing, to his unspeakable terror, beheld two savages put aside the
stalks of a canebrake, and looked out cautiously in the direction which
Yates had taken. Fearful that they had seen him step aside, he determined
to fire upon them, and trust to his heels for safety, but so unsteady was
his hand, that in raising his gun to his shoulder, she went off before he
had taken aim. He lost no time in following her example, and after having
run fifty yards, he met Yates, who, alarmed at the report, was hastily
retracing his steps. It was not necessary to inquire what was the matter.
The enemy were in full view, pressing forward with great rapidity, and
"devil take the hindmost," was the order of the day. Yates would not
outstrip Downing, but ran by his side, although in so doing, he risked
both of their lives. The Indians were well acquainted with the country,
and soon took a path that diverged from the one which the whites followed,
at one point and rejoined it at another, bearing the same relation to it
that the string does to the bow. The two paths were at no point distant
from each other more than one hundred yards, so that