d. Said the Major,--

"'Are you shot?'

"'No,' said I.

"Upon which the Indian ran forward to a big standing white oak,
and began loading his gun; but we were soon with him. I would
have killed him; but the Major would not suffer me. We let him
charge his gun. We found he put in a ball: then we took care of
him. Either the Major or I always stood by the guns. We made
him make a fire for us by a little run, as if we intended to
sleep there. I said to the Major,--

"'As you will not have him killed, we must get him away, and
then we must travel all night.'

"Upon which I said to the Indian,--

"'I suppose you were lost, and fired your gun?'

"He said he knew the way to his cabin: it was but a little
distance.

"'Well,' said I, 'do you go home, and, as we are tired, we will
follow your track in the morning; and here is a cake of bread
for you, and you must give us meat in the morning.'

"He was glad to get away. I followed him, and listened until he
was fairly out of the way; and then we went about half a mile,
when we made a fire, set our compass, fixed our course, and
travelled all night. In the morning, we were on the head of
Piny Creek."

Thus you see, my dear children, from this adventure, upon what slight
accidents sometimes hang the destinies, not only of individuals, but
even of great nations; for had not this treacherous Indian missed his
aim, and that too, in all likelihood, for the first time in a
twelvemonth, it had never been our blessed privilege to know and love
and reverence such a man as Washington; and that, instead of being the
free-born, independent people that he made us, we might have been at
this very moment throwing up our hats and wasting our precious breath
in shouts of "Long life to Queen Victoria!"

All that day they walked on, weary and foot-sore, through the deep
snow, without a trace of living man to enliven their solitary way. The
cold gray of a winter's evening was deepening the shadows of the
forest when they came to the banks of the Alleghany; and here a new
disappointment awaited them. They had all along cheered themselves
with the prospect of crossing this river on the ice: but they found
it frozen for about fifty yards only from either bank; while the rest
of the ice, broken into huge cakes, went floating swiftly down the
main channel, crushing and grinding