Patsy I was
watching while Dale talked. She never took her eyes from him, and her gaze
was idolatrous in its love. She believed in his powers implicitly; and to
bask in the reflection of his greatness was the sweetest triumph she had
ever experienced. Throughout that day the scouts were busy in the forest,
ranging very far on the track of Black Hoof's band. When they began
dropping in after sundown all their reports were alike.

There were no Indian-signs besides those left by the departing Shawnee
band. This band, said the scouts, was very large and quite sufficient to
cause the settlement much trouble and inevitable losses. There was no
mistaking the story told by the trail. The Indians had marched rapidly,
swinging north.

Every emotion, unless it be that of love, must have its ebb; and by
nightfall the settlers were returning to their old caution. Dale did not
relish this outcropping of old habits. Throwing open the door of the Davis
cabin after Davis had closed and barred it, he cried: "Let us have air.
There is no danger. You're like silly children afraid of the dark. Your
scouts have told you there are no Indians near. Yet the minute the sun
sets you imagine the woods are full of them. I will go out alone and
unarmed and I will shout my name. If any Shawnee who was not in Black
Hoof's band hears my voice he will come to me. After he learns I have
friends here on Howard's Creek, he will go away. Give me time to act
before that scoundrel Connolly can stir up more trouble and I'll make a
lasting peace between the Greenbriar, the Clinch and the Holston and the
Ohio tribes; and I'll make Dunmore look like a fool."

His overpowering personality, his massive way of asserting things made a
deep impression on the simple folks. They asked only for a chance to plant
and reap. When he went out alone that night he brought them deep under his
spell. As he plunged into the forest and stumbled about he took pains to
advertise his presence. Unknown to the settlers, I trailed him. I was
within ten feet of him when he halted and shouted his name, and in their
language called on the Shawnees to come to him.

For half an hour he wandered about, proclaiming he was the Pack-Horse-Man,
the ancient friend of the Shawnees and Mingos. Let him be a fool according
to Jesse Hughes' notion, yet he was a very brave man. He had the courage
to attempt proof of his belief in the honesty of the Shawnees.

I trailed him back to the cabin door.