The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-16
gate again, size took down the gun, pow

gate again, she took down the gun, pow
der-horn, and bullet pouch from the hook
on the cabin wall, and filled an iron ket-
tie over the fire, determined, if the saw
ages attacked the stockade, to resist them
with both fire and water. Then, while
keeping keen lookout through the port
holes and from the cabin roof, she thought
over the case and laid her plans.
From the amount of blood on the sad
die, she concluded that Leslie had held
his seat for some distance after the shot,
and hence, perhaps, had escaped the In
dams. She surmised that faintness from
loss of blood, together with some unusual
leap of the horse, had been the cause OF
her husband falling to the ground. Rea-
soning thus, it seemed to her that he
might be somewhere along the route in
need of her help.
If not alive she might find his dead
body.
Or, if she failed to discover him alive or
dead, she could ride to the mill settle
ment for safety and assistance.
With such reflections she decided to
make an early start along the wild valley
route.
She gave the horse an abundance OF
food, and bound up the wound in its
neck, knowing that all depended upon
the faithful creatures strength.
1t was long and anxious night to poor
Annie, but the dawn came at last, and
she mounted and rode away; and so
swiftly did she go that, had anybody
seen her, she might have seemed like some
spirit of the woods.
AS she sped onward, along the faint
trail marked by blazed trees, the peculiar
excitement of the horse attracted her no.
tice, and it occurred to her that if she
was attentive enough to the instinct OF
the animal she might learn where it had
parted from Leslie. And so it proved.
All day she went forward, her senses
almost supernaturally alert to find her
husband and avoid being surprised
by Indians. AS the sun was declining,
she approached the brook where Leslie
had fallen, and the conduct of the horse
convinced her that she was near the scene
of some part of the disaster. Slowly she
rode down the slope, watching on every
hand to hear something pertaining to her
search, her heart atlame with feelings too
intense for words.
1t was the tread of the horse that
reached Leslie's ears. As the animal
stepped into the stream the poor man
saw his wife, and putting forth all his
strength he called, in feeble tones, can
ME! Annie!"
She heard, and in an instant was at his
side. And such meeting To each it
seemed as if the other had come back
from the dead. What followed scarcely
needs rehearsal. BY slow marches and
great caution, living on chestnuts and
raw panther's meat, they reached the
stockade.
A few months restored Leslie from his
wound years brought peace and safety;
flowed into the region. The pioneers
farm, where once the little stockade stood
so distant and alone, became village
site, and wealth and distinction have
fallen to the Cochrane descendants.
Whoever has heard the aged Leslie re-
cite this adventure must have been i'm
pressed by the emphasis which he placed
on ''the three strange providences by
which he was delivered" First, had he
fallen anywhere but in the stream the
Indians would probably have found him
where he fell, faint or dead, and, tearing
off his scalp, would have crushed in his
skull with tomahawk and departed.
Secondly, had it not been for the Indians
the panther would have finished him.
And thirdly, the bullet that drew the
dripping blood from the neck of the
horse, so that the crimson trail did not
cease at the brook, saved his life by lead
ing away his pursuers.
In closing the story he used to say, IN
a most solemn manner:
"Death missed me by miracle, three
times in a single hour"