st. They'll be a small band. I 'low I'll foller
Kirst. If he don't drive 'em too fast there oughter be good huntin' for
me."

That night I rode into the Greenwood clearing on Dunlap's Creek without
having seen any Indians along the way.

CHAPTER IV

I REPORT TO MY SUPERIORS

A night at the Greenwood cabin and I resumed my journey to Salem on the
Roanoke. Near this hamlet lived Colonel Andrew Lewis, to whom I was to
report before carrying or forwarding Doctor Connolly's despatches to
Governor Dunmore. The trip was free from any incidents and seemed
exceedingly tame after the stress of over-mountain travel. All the
settlers I talked with were very anxious to know the true conditions along
the border.

As I pressed on and found the cabins more thickly strewn along the various
waters I was impressed by the belief of many that the Cherokees would join
the Ohio tribes before the war ended. One would expect to find this
apprehension to be the keenest where the danger would be the greatest. But
not so. Whenever I related how Isaac Crabtree had murdered Cherokee Billy,
brother of the powerful Oconostota, the pessimists were positive that the
Cherokee nation would lay down a red path.

Notwithstanding these natural fears the war remained popular with
practically all the men with whom I talked. Various companies were being
formed, and militia captains, to make sure of seeing active service, were
not punctilious as to where and by what means they secured their men.
There was much ill-natured bickering over this rivalry, with several
matters assuming such proportions that only Colonel Lewis could straighten
them out.

The war was popular because the people realized a farther western
expansion would be impossible until the Indians had been crowded back and
firmly held behind the Ohio. Anything short of a permanent elimination of
the red menace was cried down.

Much resentment was felt against the hotheads in Pennsylvania for openly
accusing the Virginians of inciting the war to establish their land
claims. It was widely known that the Pennsylvania _Gazette_ had published
charges against Doctor Connolly to the effect that his agents, acting
under his orders, had fired on friendly Shawnees who were escorting white
traders into Fort Pitt. Among these settlers east of the mountains the
common complaint was about the scarcity of powder and lead.

When within a few miles of my destination I came upon a group of settlers