anking
parties beating the woods on either side, where the nature of the
country permitted, indicated still further the presence of a martial
spirit on the part of the leaders. The women and children, stowed
carefully away, for the most part with other valuable chattels, on the
backs of pack-horses, were mingled with droves of cattle in the centre,
many of which were made to bear burdens as well as the horses. Of wheeled
carriages there was not a single one in the whole train, the difficulties
of the road, which was a mere bridle-path, being such that they were
never, at that early day, attempted to be brought into the country,
unless when wafted in boats down the Ohio.

Thus marshalled, and stealing from the depth of the forest into the
clearings around the Station, there was something in the appearance of
the train--wild, singular, and striking. The tall and robust frames of
the men, wrapped in blanket coats and hunting-frocks,--some of which,
where the wearers were young and of gallant tempers, were profusely
decked with fringes of yellow, green, and scarlet; the gleam of their
weapons, and the tramp of their horses, gave a warlike air to the whole,
typical, it might be supposed, of the sanguinary struggle by which alone
the desert was to be wrung from the wandering barbarian; while the
appearance of their families, with their domestic beasts and the
implements of husbandry, was in harmony with what might be supposed the
future destinies of the land, when peaceful labour should succeed to the
strife of conquest.

The exiles were already in the heart of their land of promise, and many
within view of the haven where they were to end their wanderings. Smiles
of pleasure lighted their wayworn countenances, as they beheld the waving
fields of maize and the gleam of the distant cabins; and their
satisfaction was still further increased when the people of the Station,
catching sight of them, rushed out, some mounted and others on foot, to
meet them, uttering loud shouts of welcome, such as, in that day, greeted
every band of new comers; and adding to the clamour of the reception a
_feu-de-joie_, which they fired in honour of the numbers and martial
appearance of the present company. The salutation was requited, and the
stirring hurrahs returned, by the travellers, most of whom pressed
forward to the van in disorder, eager to take part in the merry-making
ere it was over, or perhaps to seek for friends who had preceded them