try within ten days, and returned to the east side of the
river. A few years ago, a little mound might be seen, where they had
heaped the dirt upon the unhappy victim of his own passions. It was
"_the first grave_" in which a white man was buried in that part of the
Illinois valley.

At the expiration of the ten "days of grace," it became the duty of the
regulators to see that their orders had been obeyed; and, though the
death of Cutler had been more than they had designed or foreseen, they
had no disposition to neglect it. They met, accordingly, on the morning
of the eleventh day, and having chosen a new leader, proceeded to
Cutler's grove. They found the houses of all those to whom they had
given "notice" deserted _excepting one_. This was the cabin of the
youngest of the three brothers; and declaring his intention to remain,
in defiance of regulators and "Lynch law," he put himself upon his
defence. Without ceremony the regulators set fire to the house in which
he had barricaded himself, and ten minutes sufficed to smoke him out.
They then discovered what they had not before known: that his elder
brothers were also within; and when the three rushed from the door,
though taken by surprise, they were not thrown off their guard. The trio
were at once seized, and, after a sharp struggle, securely pinioned. A
short consultation then decided their course.

Leaving the house to burn at leisure, they posted away for the river,
driving their prisoners before them, and a march of three hours brought
them to the mouth of the Mauvaisterre. Here they constructed a "raft",
by tying half-a-dozen drift-logs together, and warning them that death
would be the penalty of a return, they placed their prisoners upon it,
pushed it into the middle of the stream, and set them adrift without oar
or pole! Although this seems quite severe enough, it was a light
punishment compared to that sometimes administered by regulators; and in
this case, had not blood been spilt when they did not intend it, it is
probable that the culprits would have been first tied to a tree, and
thoroughly "lynched."

The involuntary navigators were not rescued from their unpleasant
position until they had nearly reached Saint Louis; and though they all
swore vengeance in a loud voice, not one of them was ever again seen in
the Sangamon country.

Vigorous measures, like those we have detailed, were usually effectual
in restoring good order. Where there was no tri