d affected her health and made her pale and sad. It was on
this account her husband had prevailed on her to accept an invitation
from an old friend of hers and make a little excursion to Fort Holmes.

The real object of the trip was the bearing of important messages to
Fort Holmes, and a full escort had been detailed as a matter of
prudence, although the Indians had been very quiet for some time and
no danger was apprehended. Lieutenant Sherwood, as commander of the
expedition, deemed it an honor to take especial charge of the young
wife, who by her gentle loveliness had endeared herself to all. But
after they were out of sight Montgomery became very restless, and,
remaining only a short time on the sofa where we left him, when we
commenced this long digression, he arose and paced the floor in deep
and anxious thought, and at length, as if to throw off the terrible
weight that oppressed him, went to the door where he had parted from
his darling, and oh! horror! there stands her horse, panting and
riderless, quivering in every limb with fright. Without an instant's
delay he sprang on to the animal and rode, he scarcely knew where, not
knowing nor daring to surmise what terrible thing had befallen his
precious wife. What words can depict the scene that broke upon his
bewildered gaze when the horse instinctively stopped about three miles
from the fort? There on the ground lay several soldiers, murdered,
scalped and stripped of their clothing. A little farther on lay poor
Sherwood, butchered by the brutal savages, and near him the lifeless
body of her whom he had died to protect. Close by her side lay a
soldier mortally wounded, who had just strength enough left to say: "I
fought--for her--till the last,--Lieutenant,--and have saved her--from
the horrid scalping-knife." Poor, distracted Montgomery threw himself
on the ground beside her, calling despairingly upon her, imploring her
to speak one more word to him, but all in vain; and when the troops
from the fort, who had taken the alarm, arrived at the dreadful spot,
he lay like one dead, with his arm around the lifeless form of his
precious Lizzie. And thus they carried them home in the conveyance
sent for the purpose--the poor husband to awake to a bitter sense of
his terrible bereavement, and she who had so lately been a lovely
bride, to be dressed for her burial. Imagine, if you can, the feelings
of her parents when the heartrending news reached them. Her father's
pride