e night, I felt anxious to
know more of his exploits and adventures than I did, and accordingly
took the liberty of proposing numerous questions to him.

"The stature and general appearance of this wanderer of the western
forests approached the gigantic. His chest was broad and prominent, his
muscular powers displayed themselves in every limb; his countenance gave
indication of his great courage, enterprise and perseverance; and when
he spoke the very motion of his lips brought the impression that
whatever he uttered could not be otherwise than strictly true. I
undressed while he merely took off his hunting shirt and arranged a few
folds of blankets on the floor, choosing rather to lie there, as he
observed, than on the softest bed. When we had both disposed of
ourselves each after his own fashion, he related to me the following
account of his powers of memory, which I lay before your kind reader in
his own words, hoping that the simplicity of his style may prove
interesting to you:

"'I was once,' said he, 'on a hunting expedition on the banks of the
Green River, when the lower parts of Kentucky were still in the hands of
nature, and none but the sons of the soil were looked upon as its lawful
proprietors. We Virginians had for some time been waging a war of
intrusion upon them, and I among the rest rambled through the woods in
pursuit of their race, as I now would follow the tracks of any ravenous
animal. The Indians outwitted me one dark night, and I was as
unexpectedly as suddenly made a prisoner by them.

"'The trick had been managed with great skill; for no sooner had I
extinguished the fire of my camp, and laid me down to rest in full
security, as I thought, than I felt seized by an undistinguishable
number of hands, and was immediately pinioned as if about to be led to
the scaffold for execution. To have attempted to be refractory would
have proved useless and dangerous to my life, and I suffered myself to
be removed from my camp to theirs, a few miles distant, without uttering
a word of complaint. You are aware, I daresay, that to act in this
manner was the best policy, as you understand that by so doing, I proved
to the Indians at once that I was born and bred as fearless of death as
any of themselves.

"'When we reached the camp great rejoicings were exhibited. Two squaws
and a few papooses appeared particularly delighted at the sight of me,
and I was assured by every unequivocal gesture and word that on