in
the journey through the wilderness. Such friends were, in many instances,
found, and their loud and affectionate greetings were mingled with the
scarce less cordial welcomes extended by the colonists, even to the
unknown stranger. Such was the reception of the emigrants at that period
and in that country, where men were united together by a sense of common
danger; and where every armed visitor, besides being an accession to the
strength of the colonists, brought with him such news of absent friends
and still remembered homes as was sure to recommend him to favour.

The only individual who, on this occasion of rejoicing, preserved a
melancholy countenance, and who, instead of riding forward, like the
others, to shake hands with the people of the Station, betrayed an
inclination to avoid their greetings altogether, was a young man, who,
from the position he occupied in the band, and from other causes, was
entitled to superior attention. With the rank and nominal title of
second-captain,--a dignity conferred upon him by his companions, he was,
in reality, the commander of the party, the ostensible leader being,
although a man of good repute on the Virginia border, entirely wanting in
the military reputation and skill which the other had acquired in the
armies of the Republics, and of which the value was fully appreciated,
when danger first seemed to threaten the exiles on their march. He was a
youth of scarce twenty-three years of age; but five of those years had
been passed in camps and battles; and the labours, passions, and
privations of his profession had antedated the period of manhood. A frame
tall and athletic, a countenance which, although retaining the smoothness
and freshness of youth, was yet marked with the manly gravity and
decision of mature life, added, in appearance, at least six years to his
age. He wore a hunting-frock of the plainest green colour, with cap and
leggings of leather, such as were worn by many of the poorest or least
pretending exiles; like whom also he bore a rifle on his shoulder, with
the horn and other equipments of a hunter. There was little, therefore,
to distinguish him at the first view, from among his companions; although
his erect military bearing, and the fine blooded bay horse which he rode,
would have won him more than a passing look. The holsters at his
saddle-bow, and the sabre at his side, were weapons not indeed very
generally worn by frontiersmen, but still common enough