Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-02-25
THE OUTPOST,


sTewards the latter part of the year I751, the
-frsnch, aided by the vast bodies of Huron and
ylrQqnois Indians, had begun to make them
4elyes very disagreeable neighbors to the Brit
NJ nd American coloniss in northern Vir-
Kfo41 Ohio, and the northwest portious of New
-HeRk, State-the French by their enroachments
s0u ne frontier, and the Indians by their num-
Serers forays and savage barbarity to all who
sy1sre unfortunate enough to fall into their
hands.
- 80 put stop to these aggressive proceedings,
snnmerous bodies, both Of the ''regulars' and
the colonial militia, were dispatched to the sew
eral points assailed; and among the rest, Col
Henry 1nnes, with a company Of thirty men,
among whom were q party of some dozen Vir
sgipia rifemen, was ordered 10 occupy q small
outpost, or log fort, which at this period stood
within few miles Of the north fork Of the
Allegany river.
Having arrived safely at their quarters, the
little company set acout righting up the old
post, to make it as comfortable as circumstan-
ces would permit; and this being done, and
order once more restored, sentries were placed
at all the advanced points of the station, while
fthe strictest vigilance was both eDjoined and
exercised by day and night.
= Among the Virgins rihemen who had VOL
unteered into the company, was tall, manly,
fne-looking young fellow, who, from his fatal
and unerring skill as n marksman, had receiv-
ed the somewhat awe-inspiring nom de plume
Ol-Dc6tu- DuL viii WudtcfeI 1u5IlC6 Ills
name had been applied to him for his skill, this
Aisposition certainly entitled him to no such
tsrror spreading epithet On the contrary, he
was the very life Of the company.
His rich fund Of mother-wit, large social pro-
pensities, and constant good nature, rendered
him general fsvorite with the men; while the
,neyer-failing stock of game, which his skill
enabled him to supply the table of the officers
with, not only recommended him to their good
graces, but caused many a little ssshort COM
ing" of his to be winked at and passed over
In silence, which otherwise, perhaps, he might
not have got over so very easily.
The company had not been stationed at the
fort for much more than a week, ere Death, in
one of his excursions for game, discovered that
at small farm house, some three miles or so
distant from the fort, there lived certain Miss
Hester Stsnhope, whose equal in beauty and
.iamiable qualities be had never seen before.
EAnd to render himself more certain of the fact,
be called the day following, under cover Of
the pretence Of having left his powder flask.
Death was invited to come again by Farmer
Stanhope, who happened to be from the same
parish as the father Of our hero; and We need
1scarcely ssy that the invitation was both
eagerly and joyfully accepted, and, as often as
circumstances would permit, complied with
:, The second week after this occurrence took
~pIsce, was marked by two events, which,
Though both affecting the little community at
THE fort were Of widely different degrees of i'm
sportance.
- The first was, that Death had suddenly lots
ali his skill as q marksmsn, or, that the game
.had removed to a ssfer and more distant neigh
thorhood. for the officers larder had been found
sadly wanting in the items Of woodcock, black
cock, ptmsrigsn, etc., for the week past, and
the second and most important Of the two
events vas that in regular succession, four sem
tinels had disappeared from the extreme left
Iiae. without leaving the slightest trace to
-elrcidase the mystery Of their disappearance.
This Last circumstances struck such dread
A,ato the breasts of the rest Of the company,
that no one could be found wiling to volunteer