hus to reach the place
of settlement in time to make ready for those coming by water.

Robertson and his men arrived about Christmas. Then began a tedious four
months of waiting for the others. It was springtime again, April 24, when
they at last arrived. Their roundabout route had taken them down the
Tennessee River, then up the Ohio, and lastly up the Cumberland. The
Indians in ambush on the river banks had attacked them many times during
their long and toilsome journey, and the boats were so slow and clumsy
that it was impossible for them to escape the flights of arrows.

But when they arrived, past troubles were soon forgotten, and with good
heart, now that all were together, the settlers took up the work of making
homes.

However, difficulties with the Indians were not over. The first company of
settlers that arrived had been left quite unmolested. But now, as spring
opened, bands of Indian hunters and warriors began to make life wretched
for them all. There is no doubt that the red men did not like to have the
settlers kill the game, or scare it off by clearing up the land; but the
principal motive for the attacks was the desire for scalps and plunder,
just as it was in assailing other Indian tribes.

The Indians became a constant terror. They killed the settlers while
working in the clearings, hunting game, or getting salt at the licks. They
loved to lure on the unwary by imitating the gobbling of a turkey or the
call of some wild beast, and then pounce upon their human prey.

As the corn crop, so carefully planned, had been destroyed by heavy
freshets in the autumn, the settlers had to scour the woods for food,
living on nuts and game. By the time winter had set in, they had used up
so much of their powder and bullets that Robertson resolved to go to
Kentucky for more.

ROBERTSON SAVES THE SETTLEMENT

He went safely, though quite alone, and returned on the evening of January
15 (1780) with a good supply of ammunition. You may be sure he had a
hearty welcome in the fort, where all were gathered. There was much to
talk about, and they sat up till late into the night. All went to bed,
tired and sleepy, without any fear. For at that season of the year the red
men seldom molested them; and no sentinels were left on guard.

Soon all were in deep slumber except Robertson, whose sense of lurking
danger would not let him sleep. He kept feeling that enemies might be
near. And he was right. For just outside the f