figure of Sam Brady
had launched itself into the air; arms and legs extended it had been
out-lined for an instant, in space, then had landed--Crash!--amidst the
thin bushes clinging to the opposite edge, had scrambled, recovered,
hauled itself a few feet, and was disappearing.

Their rifles cracked hastily. But with a bullet in his leg Captain
Brady ran on.

The Indians clustered for just a moment, to stare with amazement.

"White man jump; Injun no jump," they jabbered, excited. So they
crossed by the ford, and striking his blood spatters easily followed
his trail.

Captain Brady was about all in. His wounded leg bothered him, his
great leap had shaken him. But he knew of a lake, ahead, and made for
it. It was his last resort. He got there, in time, and like a mad
thing surged neck deep among the pond lilies. By quick work (he heard
the yells coming nearer) he snapped a lily stem; and sinking to the
bottom he held himself down, with the hollow stem in his mouth and the
other end at the surface. He might stay there, and breathe!

The broad leaves of the pond lilies covered his hiding place; the stem
gave him air. The Indians reached the pond, and saw his tracks leading
in. He faintly heard them splashing about. All that day they searched
and waited; they were there until late into the night; soaked and cold
and cramped, he felt as though he could not stand it much longer; but
he gritted his teeth and determined that he would die, of himself,
rather than yield them his scalp.

At last, having heard no muffled sounds through the water or through
the hollow stem for some time, he risked rising to the surface. All
was quiet. The darkness concealed him. He might straighten his limbs
and breathe freely. By thunder, he was safe!

Several days afterward, Captain Sam Brady limped into Fort Pitt. For a
long time the Indians believed that he had drowned himself. They never
quite understood how he had managed to leap that gorge. Even the exact
spot of the famous Brady's Leap is disputed. One gorge, claimed to be
the place, measures twenty-five feet across. Another measured
twenty-seven feet and a half.

Here the Indians, traveling to view it, carved a turkey foot in a rock.

"Sam Brady no man; he turkey. No jump; flew," they declared.

None of them ever managed to capture Sam Brady and keep him. He defied
them and lived on. In 1786 he married the lovely Drusilla
Swearingen--daughter of another no