ies of "help poor Jennings," as the wretched and worn-out survivors in
the disabled boat caught the first glimpse of the lights on shore.

Having successfully run the gauntlet of the Chickamauga banditti, the
flotilla was not again molested by the Indians, save once when the boats
that drifted near shore were fired on by a roving war party, and five
men wounded. They ran over the great Muscle Shoals in about three hours
without accident, though the boats scraped on the bottom here and there.
The swift, broken water surged into high waves, and roared through the
piles of driftwood that covered the points of the small islands, round
which the currents ran in every direction; and those among the men who
were unused to river-work were much relieved when they found themselves
in safety. One night, after the fires had been kindled, the tired
travellers were alarmed by the barking of the dogs. Fearing that Indians
were near by, they hastily got into the boats and crossed to camp on the
opposite shore. In the morning two of them returned to pick up some
things that had been left; they found that the alarm had been false, for
the utensils that had been overlooked in the confusion were undisturbed,
and a negro who had been left behind in the hurry was still sleeping
quietly by the camp-fires.

On the 20th of the month they reached the Ohio. Some of the boats then
left for Natchez, and others for the Illinois country; while the
remainder turned their prows up stream, to stem the rapid current--a
task for which they were but ill-suited. The work was very hard, the
provisions were nearly gone, and the crews were almost worn out by
hunger and fatigue. On the 24th they entered the mouth of the
Cumberland. The _Adventure_, the heaviest of all the craft, got much
help from a small square-sail that was set in the bow.

Two days afterwards the hungry party killed some buffalo, and feasted on
the lean meat, and the next day they shot a swan "which was very
delicious," as Donelson recorded. Their meal was exhausted and they
could make no more bread; but buffalo were plenty, and they hunted them
steadily for their meat; and they also made what some of them called
"Shawnee salad" from a kind of green herb that grew in the bottoms.

On the last day of the month they met Col. Richard Henderson, who had
just come out and was running the line between Virginia and North
Carolina. The crews were so exhausted that the progress of the boats
became