o brothers hed come oveh the mountains
the spring befoh, an' hed built a cabin an' made a sort o' cl'arin' out
in the wilderness 'bout two mile frum Houston's, on the road to
Bryan's. One uv the brothahs--I can't re-collect his fust name--wuzn't
married; but the otheh hed a wife an' a four-year-old boy when they
come, an' anotheh child wuz borned to 'em 'bout two weeks befoh thet
last Injun raid. They hed been warned agin an' agin thet it wuzn't safe
outside the fort; but still they lived on out thar till thet tur'ble
August mawnin'--when they runs pantin' inteh Houston's with the tidings
thet the savages hed attacked ther cabin. They'd been roused in the
night by the stompin' an' nickerin uv the hosses. It wuz a starlight
night, an' peepin' out uv a loophole in the front uv ther house, they
seen redskins skulkin' in the shadow o' the trees. They couldn't tell
how many ther wuz, but nigh a dozen they thought, an' they didn't know
how many more might be hidin' in the bushes. So they decided it wuz no
use to try to defend themselves, an' that ther only chance to save ther
scalps wuz to steal out befoh the Injuns got to the door. You see, they
couldn't git to the hosses, fur the red imps wuz between the house an'
whar the hosses wuz in the woods which grew up close to the cabin in
front. But at the back the trees wuz all cl'ared off, an' ther wuz a
gairden patch next to the cabin, an' then a cawnfiel'. The only door
wuz in front, an' thar wuz no windah either in the back--only two
little loopholes. One uv the puncheons in the floor hed been left loose
a purpus, an' they took it up without mekin' any noise. Then, afteh
waitin' tell they saw thet the Injuns hed skulked up nearly to the
door, they crawled through the gap in the floor, an' then frum undeh
the house into the gairden, an' then to the cawnfiel', an' stole
through it to the woods on t'otheh side. Then they run fur ther lives,
expectin' ev'ry minit to be attacked. It wuz a meracle they eveh
reached the fort alive. Pore Mrs. Page wuz 'bout tuckered out. You see,
her baby wuz barely two weeks old; besides, she 'peared to be a pore,
weak-sperrited creeter, anyway; an' the long run an' the skeer hed
well-nigh done fur her. It wuz her little boy, the four-year-old
shaver, whut I toted befoh me as we hurried to Bryan's. On the road, we
hed to pass the Pages' cl'arin', an' thar, still burnin', wuz the
remains o' their cabin which the redskins hed fired. Ther gairden an'
ca