The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1863-10-23
,omponions--remomted for the pur-


minutes reflection, ''you had better
ride on to the Portage; tho men will
all be there by the middle of the az
lternoon. Tell them to bait their
horses for an hour, and then follow us
with all speed; so as to join us at the I
mouth of the Illinois by sunrise to-
morrow. . Unless the trail should
lesd us too much out Of tire way, We
will wait for them there. If you do
not find lie there, look for three col
umns Of smoke, ranging north and
south, and make all haste TO come q
up -a-oc.e t'- ~ s- ~
Fielding made no reply, but, put
ting spuia 70 bis horse, turned his
Head tostht'wcst and was soon out OF
sight--while Edgar and White, now
left alone, took their way as rapidly
as possible up the banks of the stream.
1t was u small force with Which to at
tack twenty savage; hut had the odds
been ten times greater, Edgar's eager.
mess and Whites zeal would have felt
mo check. What they might not eff.
fleet by the. strong hand, they tusted
ito stratagem to compass, and even
the savage was no matclffos the rang
Ter in cunning. - srf
The two adycnturers had gone
scarcely q mile, when they were bro't
suddenly to halt. The trail was
about equally diyided--one-half the
party keeping mp the bed of the
Istream, and the other issuing toward
the left aud leading off Westward
This was embarrassing. The prison
er could not I've with both divisions
and it was extremely difficult to tell
which 10 follow.
I'VE are ut tault," said Edgar.
"Thcre is n sign which may set us
right" exclaimed White, pointing to
a little strip of some white stuff which
Ihuttered upon bush but few PAGES
from the water, The briaIs have be.
friendcd us III need,
Edgar rode rapidly to the place
A narrow strip -cvidenuy torn from
James bridal dress--hung fluttering
from biiar, as If caught in passing.
He halted at the distance Of several
yards, and cautiously approached on
foot, closely scrutinizing the ground
lat every step. The horses had pass
ed. no doubt near enough TO brush
against the bliars; but directly be
meath the fragment, small, dry twig
was broken, and the leaves about it
were hattened to the gronnd.
~ moccasined foot has been set
there" he nuttcred; and on direct
inc the examination to the fragment
his suspicion was conirmcd--that it
was not accident, but design that
had placed it there. The fabric was
not drawn rs it would have been had
it been torn in passing; aud it bore
marks OF larger hand than James.
They are trying 10 outwit us,
White" said the Captain, ''but they
don't know with whom they have to
deal. This little piece of muslin is n
Red Skin lic---though it did come
from Jane ficlding's dress, We mnst
keep up the stream and let those de
coys go ON their way.
"It has been asccrtained," says
Chateaubraid, ''that the white man :
in America, is capable of enduring
more hardships and piivations than
the Indians and il decidedly his SUI
,perior even in his own mode of war
fare" and thence he deduces s,mdry
propositions about differences in race +,
and other Improbable speculations.
But the incts. aIout which there IL no
dispute, instead Of being the result OF
generic distinctions; are the efforts of
II much later cansc---superior intellec.
tual culture. Not that the rangers
of those days were highly educated
men, in the extraordinary acceptation
of the term; but any degree IN the Z
scale of civilization, by the Providence
OF God, possesses measureless ad-
vnntagcs--i all the pursuits of life :
over every lower grade. And, al
though these were decidedlyignorNnt
men, their evident superiority over
their enemies, without contradiction
in terms, was the fruit OF their intel
ligcncc,
:. We cannot lingcr to detail the mi
mute and, to other men imperceptible
signs, or the acute and logical reas-
onings upon those which led these ad
|vcnturcrs mcrringly upon their way;
though all would illustratc, so clear
,ly. the principle above. They follow
cd the trail, after it left the s,reaui,
several miles toward the north; when
ON entering the broken country at the
} head waters OF the piasan, It verged
suddenly to the left, aud led, tamost
! ''as the bird flies directly toward
: the Illinois river. a little before sun
) set they reached the banks of that
!. stream; and hut moments examine
ton was sufficient to determine that
t The fugitives had crossed he:e some
/ hours before 81
: Bat this was not the only inference
3 that Edgar drew from tic signs or
their halt. The footprints OF several
q horses led OH from the river, in dif-.
} ferent directions but It was in that
, uncertain winding, which animals take
while grazing, and from the extent OF
/ these paths, twas evident tsGt ahait
G Of some duration had been made -
. While uinutely examining the ground
! the Captain suddenly discovered the
. print OF smnn shoe, aud following
e shoe, and following ii little aside he
70 approachcd the river bank, aud dis.
g ,a,,,,,l .l,, i,,,rase of hoth lane