es had surprised and
surrounded that garrison. These two runners had managed to steal out
under shelter of the tall corn back of the fort at Bryan's, to bring
messages from Colonel Todd, imploring Fort Houston to come to the
rescue. Other messengers had carried the same appeal to other stations.
Ah!" he continued enthusiastically, "the men of Kentucky were brothers
indeed in those trying times! And the garrisons of Houston, Harrods,
St. Asaph's and all the other forts, responded as one man to that cry
from Bryan's."

"Did you leave the women and children in Fort Houston?" asked Dudley.

"No, indeed," answered Rogers before Gilcrest could speak. "'Twuzn't
safe. Houston's wuz li'ble to be attacked in our absence. Besides, it
wuzn't ez big an' strong ez Bryan's, whar the stockades wuz
bullet-proof, the gates uv solid puncheons, an' the houses within built
afteh the ole block-house pattern. So we tuck our women an' childurn
with us. Cynthy Ann, with our little William in her lap, rid behind me
on the nag, an' I carried befoh me in the saddle a little chap
belonging to one uv our men, who hed a sick wife an' a two-weeks-ole
baby to look afteh. Thet was a sad, sad trip fur me an' Cynthy Ann," he
murmured with a sudden break in his voice and a wistful look at his
wife. "The hurryin' gallop oveh eighteen mile o' rough country with the
br'ilin' sun a-scorchin' down on us all the way, cost us the life uv
our fust-borned, our purty little William. I tell you," he added
excitedly, "ef the men o' thet day showed up brave an' faithful, our
women, God bless 'em, wuz even braver an' more endurin'."

"They were indeed," Gilcrest heartily agreed with an appreciative
glance at Mrs. Rogers, "and it was their heroic self-sacrifice and
noble endurance that made it possible for us to subdue this wilderness.
When I reached here that summer of '82, and saw the terrible life of
the pioneer women, I was thankful I had left my betrothed bride in
Virginia. It took women of stout courage and nerve, such as you, Sister
Rogers, to be really a helpmeet to a man in this wilderness of twenty
years ago. A woman of weak nerve or faint heart would have succumbed
under the hardships and danger."

"Like pore Page's wife," added Rogers.

"Pore Mrs. Page!" exclaimed Mrs. Rogers. "I'll nevah furgit her hard
fate."

"She was the wife of one of the Page brothers who were with us at Blue
Licks, was she not?" asked Gilcrest.

"Yes," Rogers answered. "The tw