d be discovered, and the men returned to their
homes.

Some days after, circumstances induced the belief that the Indians
were yet in the neighborhood, and men were again assembled for the
purpose of tracing them. They were now enabled to distinguish the
trail, and pursued it near to the cave, where from the number of rocks
on the ground and the care which had been taken by the Indians to
leave no vestige, they could no longer discover it. They however
examined for it in every direction until night forced them to desist.
In thinking over the incidents of the day; the cave occurred to the
mind of Major Robinson, who was well acquainted with the woods, and he
concluded that the savages must be concealed in it. It was examined
early next morning, but they had left it the preceding night and
departed for their towns. After her return from captivity, Mrs.
Cunningham stated, that in time of the search on the day before, the
Indians were in the cave, and that several times the whites approached
so near, that she could distinctly hear their voices; the savages
standing with their guns ready to fire, in the event of their being
discovered, and forcing her to keep the infant to her breast, lest its
crying might point to the place of their concealment.[6]

In consequence of their stay at this place on account of their wounded
companion, it was some time before they arrived [275] in their own
country;[7] and Mrs. Cunningham's sufferings, of body as well as mind
were truly great. Fatigue and hunger oppressed her sorely,--the infant
in her arms, wanting the nourishment derived from the due sustenance
of the mother, plied at the breast for milk, in vain--blood came in
stead; and the Indians perceiving this, put a period to its
sufferings, with the tomahawk, even while clinging to its mother's
bosom. It was cast a little distance from the path, and left without a
leaf or bush to hide it from beasts of prey.

The anguish of this woman during the journey to the towns, can only be
properly estimated by a parent; her bodily sufferings may be inferred
from the fact, that for ten days her only sustenance consisted of the
head of a wild turkey and three papaws, and from the circumstance that
the skin and nails of her feet, scalded by frequent wading of the
water, came with her stockings, when upon their arrival at a village
of the Delawares, she was permitted to draw them off. Yet was she
forced to continue on with them the next day.--One