night under the same roof with me,
more than twenty years ago. We had returned from a shooting excursion, in
the course of which his extraordinary skill in the management of a rifle
had been fully displayed. On retiring to the room appropriated to that
remarkable individual and myself for the night, I felt anxious to know
more of his exploits and adventures than I did, and accordingly took the
liberty of proposing numerous questions to him. The stature and general
appearance of this wanderer of the western forests, approached the
gigantic. His chest was broad and prominent; his muscular powers
displayed themselves in every limb; his countenance gave indication of
his great courage, enterprise, and perseverance; and when he spoke, the
very motion of his lips brought the impression, that whatever he uttered
could not be otherwise than strictly true. I undressed, while he merely
took off his hunting shirt, and arranged a few folds of blankets on the
floor; choosing rather to lie there, as he observed, than on the softest
bed. When we had both disposed of ourselves, each after his own fashion,
he related to me the following account of his powers of memory, which I
lay before you, kind reader, in his own words, hoping that the simplicity
of his style may prove interesting to you.

"I was once," said he, "on a hunting expedition on the banks of the Green
river, when the lower parts of this (Kentucky) were still in the hands of
nature, and none but the sons of the soil were looked upon as its lawful
proprietors. We Virginians had for some time been waging a war of
intrusion upon them, and I, among the rest, rambled through the woods, in
pursuit of their race, as I now would follow the tracks of any ravenous
animal. The Indians outwitted me one dark night, and I was as
unexpectedly as suddenly made a prisoner by them. The trick had been
managed with great skill; for no sooner had I extinguished the fire of my
camp, and laid me down to rest, in full security, as I thought, than I
felt myself seized by an indistinguishable number of hands, and was
immediately pinioned, as if about to be led to the scaffold for
execution. To have attempted to be refractory, would have proved useless
and dangerous to my life; and I suffered myself to be removed from my
camp to theirs, a few miles distant, without uttering even a word of
complaint. You are aware, I dare say, that to act in this manner, was the
best policy, as you understand that by s