t if her husband was killed there in
Kansas, she should preempt that claim, and defend the property
for her children.

He saw another woman, a girl of twenty. He visited a mill which
had been burnt by Missourians, where piles of sawdust were still
in flames before his eyes, and there he met her; and when he
asked to whom that house belonged, she said to her father. And
when he inquired about her adventures in connection with that
burning house, this was the story. Twenty-eight hundred
Missourians were encamped around that house the morning after
they had burned it. The girl had fled with her mother a mile off,
but had come back to see if she could save any of the property.
She walked into the midst of the crowd, and found a man she had
previously known seated upon her favorite horse. Said she, "That
is my horse; get off." He laughed at her. She repeated her
demand. He loaded her with curses and insults. She turned to the
bystanders--the herd of ruffians who had burned her father's
house--and said: "This is my horse; make that man get off." Those
fellows obeyed her; they shrank before that heroic girl, and made
their companion dismount. She mounted the horse and rode off.
When she had gone about half a mile, she heard a trampling of
horses' hoofs behind her. The thief, mounted on a fleeter horse,
was riding after her. He overtook her, and reining his horse in
front of her, he seized hers by the bridle, and commanded her to
let go. She held on. Said he, "Let go, or it will be the worse
for you." She still held on. He took out his bowie-knife, and
drew it across her hand, so that she could feel the sharpness of
the edge. Said he, "If you don't let go, I will cut your hand
off." Said she, "Cut if you dare." He cut the rope close to her
hand, and took the bridle from her. It was useless to resist any
longer, so she slipped off and walked away. But it was not ten
minutes before she again heard trampling behind, and as she
looked around, she saw two companions of this miscreant--two men
less utterly villainous than he--bringing back her horse. Moved
by her heroism, they had compelled him again to give up the
horse, had brought it back to her, and she owns it now.

That was what great emergencies made out of woman. That girl had
splendid physic