The Project Gutenberg EBook of Betty Zane, by Zane Grey

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Betty Zane

Author: Zane Grey

Release Date: July 24, 2004 [EBook #1261]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BETTY ZANE ***

Etext prepared by Bill Brewer, billbrewer@ttu.edu

BETTY ZANE
BY
ZANE GREY

TO THE BETTY ZANE CHAPTER OF
THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION
THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR

NOTE

In a quiet corner of the stately little city of Wheeling, West Va.,
stands a monument on which is inscribed:

"By authority of the State of West Virginia to commemorate the siege
of Fort Henry, Sept 11, 1782, the last battle of the American
Revolution, this tablet is here placed."

Had it not been for the heroism of a girl the foregoing inscription
would never have been written, and the city of Wheeling would never
have existed. From time to time I have read short stories and
magazine articles which have been published about Elizabeth Zane and
her famous exploit; but they are unreliable in some particulars,
which is owing, no doubt, to the singularly meagre details available
in histories of our western border.

For a hundred years the stories of Betty and Isaac Zane have been
familiar, oft-repeated tales in my family--tales told with that
pardonable ancestral pride which seems inherent in every one. My
grandmother loved to cluster the children round her and tell them
that when she was a little girl she had knelt at the feet of Betty
Zane, and listened to the old lady as she told of her brother's
capture by the Indian Princess, of the burning of the Fort, and of
her own race for life. I knew these stories by heart when a child.

Two years ago my mother came to me with an old note book which had
been discovered in some rubbish that had been placed in the yard to
burn. The book had probably been hidden in an old picture frame for
many years. It belonged to my great-grandfather, Col. Ebenezer Zane.
From its faded and time-worn pages I have taken the main facts of my
story. My regret is that a worthier pen than mine has not had this
wealth of material.

In this busy progressive age there are n