anced towards him, and fell exhausted at
his feet. Mayall raised her from the ground and inquired the cause of
her grief. She soon recovered sufficiently to inform him that a party of
nine Indian hunters had been prowling about her cabin for a couple of
days, and that morning they had stolen her little daughter Nelly, but
four years old, and bore her away in triumph without any regard to her
screams or the lamentations of her mother for her only child.

Mayall listened with pity and grief to the poor woman's tale of woe, and
impatiently said, "Why did not your husband follow the black thieves and
bring back your child?"

"Oh dear," cried the poor woman, "what could he do with so many
Indians?"

Mayall replied, "Follow them, and when a good opportunity offered, kill
them, shoot the thieves and bring back your child. Better die like a man
than live a coward here in this forest land, dreaming of robber band
that bore away his only child to be a slave in some proud savage's smoky
hut."

At this reply the woman became frantic with despair and cried out, "Oh,
Mayall, for mercy save my child. You are the only man now living that
can do it, and I will give you all I possess on earth and be your slave
in the bargain."

Mayall was not deaf to sympathy. The fire of revenge began to kindle in
his bosom; but how should he withstand the power and vengeance of nine
brave men skilled in battle and the chase? He sat silent for a few
moments. The flames of revenge began to burn in his iron will, which,
when aroused, was terrible. He inquired the direction the Indians had
gone with the child, and where their trail could be found, then told the
woman to go home and take a good night's rest; he said the Indians had
gone, and of course would not return unless they came to bring her Nelly
back, and further she could do nothing to recover the child herself. He
thought the child would be returned in the morning.

These words seemed to pacify her, and she returned home. As soon as his
only neighbor, Miss Murphrey, was out of sight, Mayall examined his
trusty gun and prepared cartridges equal to twice the number of Indians,
placed his tomahawk and hunting-knife in his belt, then turned to his
wife and said, "You must not look for me until I return. I will be back
as soon as my mission is accomplished."

His mind then became calm and he sallied forth from his cottage as
cheerful as a hunter in quest of game, and soon disappeared in the
fo