t. The fellow was in poor case, and begged for food, saying
he was starving. I, therefore, desired the men to supply him with some
dried venison and bread, which he ate with avidity. He refused to tell
me his master's name, but said there were hundreds of negroes fighting
with the Indians, six from the same plantation as himself. My companions
were at first intent upon securing him, but being averse to that
course, I dared them to do it; when, seeing I was fully determined on
this point, they did not insist. Pointing to the hammock, after giving
him a dram of brandy, I bid him be off, when he darted like a deer into
the thicket, and disappeared from our view, with a loud shout of
exultation.

About ten miles further on, as we passed the edge of a dense hammock, we
heard the bay of an Indian dog, and fearing the proximity of a party of
marauders, we were instantly on the alert. The dog did not, however,
come out of the wood, and we rode from the dangerous vicinity with all
dispatch. Arrived again at Fort Andrews, without any further adventure
worth recording, we found a party of volunteers about to proceed to Fort
Pleasant, in the direction we were going. After recruiting my now almost
exhausted strength by a refreshing sleep, I went down to their
encampment, by the river's edge. They had the day before encountered a
strong party of Indians, whom they repulsed with loss. Some of the party
showed me several bloody scalps of warriors they had killed. I could not
help remarking the beauty of the hair, which was raven-black, and shone
with a beautiful gloss. They had several captured Indian women with
them, and half-a-dozen children; the former were absorbed in grief, and
one in particular, whose young husband had been shot in the fray, and
whose scalp was one of those I have just mentioned, was quite
overwhelmed. The children, little conscious of the misery of their
parents, swam about and dived in the river like amphitrites; they each
carried a small bow and quiver of arrows. There is no doubt the Indians
these volunteers had fallen in with and routed, were the identical party
referred to by the negro we had met some forty-eight hours before.

I had made up my mind to stay at Fort Andrews for a time, partly to
fulfil an engagement with a friend whom I had arranged to meet here, and
to whom I shall shortly have to refer more at length, and partly to
recruit my strength, a tertian ague having seized me, which much
debilitat