nto the
boats below. Yet only four people were wounded, and they not
dangerously. One of them was a girl named Nancy Gower. When, by the
sudden onslaught of the Indians, the crew of the boat in which she was
were thrown into dismay, she took the helm and steered, exposed to the
fire of the savages. A ball went through the upper part of one of her
thighs, but she neither flinched nor uttered any cry; and it was not
known that she was wounded until, after the danger was past, her mother
saw the blood soaking through her clothes. She recovered, married one of
the frontiersmen, and lived for fifty years afterwards, long enough to
see all the wilderness filled with flourishing and populous States.

One of the clumsy craft, however, did not share the good fortune that
befell the rest, in escaping with so little loss and damage. Jonathan
Jennings' boat, in which was Mrs. Peyton, with her new-born baby, struck
on a rock at the upper end of the whirl, the swift current rendering it
impossible for the others to go to his assistance; and they drifted by,
leaving him to his fate. The Indians soon turned their whole attention
to him, and from the bluffs opened a most galling fire upon the disabled
boat. He returned it as well as he could, keeping them somewhat in
check, for he was a most excellent marksman. At the same time he
directed his two negroes, a man and woman, his nearly grown son, and a
young man who was with him, to lighten the boat by throwing his goods
into the river. Before this was done, the negro man, the son, and the
other young man most basely jumped into the river, and swam ashore. It
is satisfactory to record that at least two of the three dastards met
the fate they deserved. The negro was killed in the water, and the other
two captured, one of them being afterwards burned at the stake, while
the other, it is said, was ultimately released. Meanwhile Mrs. Jennings,
assisted by the negro woman and Mrs. Peyton, actually succeeded in
shoving the lightened boat off the rock, though their clothes were cut
in many places by the bullets; and they rapidly drifted out of danger.
The poor little baby was killed in the hurry and confusion; but its
mother, not eighteen hours from child-bed, in spite of the cold, wet,
and exertion, kept in good health. Sailing by night as well as day, they
caught up with the rest of the flotilla before dawn on the second
morning afterwards, the men being roused from their watch-fires by the
cr