rmy was immediately put in motion. The rifles were loaded and
primed, and the flints carefully examined, that they might not fall
into ambush unprepared. The sun was just rising as they cautiously
approached the doomed village. There was a smooth green meadow a few
rods in width on the western bank of the river, skirted by the
boundless forest. The Indian wigwams and lodges, of varied structure,
were clustered together on this treeless, grassy plain, in much
picturesque beauty. The Indians had apparently not been apprised of the
approach of the terrible tempest of war about to descend upon them.
Apparently, at that early hour, they were soundly asleep. Not a man,
woman, or child was to be seen.

Silently, screened by thick woods, the army formed in line of battle.
The two hundred Indian warriors, rifle in hand and tomahawk at belt,
stealthily took their position. The white men took theirs. At a given
signal, the war-whoop burst from the lips of the savages, and the wild
halloo of the backwoodsmen reverberated through the forest, as both
parties rushed forward in the impetuous charge. "We were all so
furious," writes Crockett, "that even the certainty of a pretty hard
fight could not have restrained us."

But to the intense mortification of these valiant men, not a single
living being was to be found as food for bullet or tomahawk. The huts
were all deserted, and despoiled of every article of any value. There
was not a skin, or an unpicked bone, or a kernel of corn left behind.
The Indians had watched the march of the foe, and, with their wives and
little ones, had retired to regions where the famishing army could not
follow them.

CHAPTER VI.

The Camp and the Cabin.

Deplorable Condition of the Army.--Its wanderings.--Crockett's
Benevolence.--Cruel Treatment of the Indians.--A Gleam of Good
Luck.--The Joyful Feast.--Crockett's Trade with the Indian.--Visit to
the Old Battlefield.--Bold Adventure of Crockett.--His Arrival
Home.--Death of his Wife.--Second Marriage.--Restlessness.--Exploring
Tour.--Wild Adventures.--Dangerous Sickness.--Removal to the West.--His
New Home.

The army, far away in the wilds of Southern Alabama, on the banks of
the almost unknown Chattahoochee, without provisions, and with leagues
of unexplored wilderness around, found itself in truly a deplorable
condition. The soldiers had hoped to find, in the Indian village,
stores of beans and corn, and quantities of preserved game. In t