Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-03-17
The Outpost

"A lhsmselS YES very ,dfssgreeabIo neigh.
/ borg TO the Rfitish and Amefioan colonies
Id Northern Visgiuia, the Northwest portion
y ct Now York State--the. Frenoh BY their
4 lsncroaehments on the frontier, aud thes Ine
4 disny by their uun,orous forays aud savage
barbartty to all who were unfortuuate
enough % fall into their hands. 3 a
isasd TO put q stop 10 these { progressive pro.
,aceedings, j. numerous = bodies, both Of the
4 lfegalafs and colonial militia, were despatch.
sd 10 the several points assailsd; among
i the rest . Col. Henry Innis, with o com-
rsny, OF thirty men, was ordered to OCCUPY
small outpost, OF log fort, which at that
period, stood within few miles from tho
North Fork Of the Allegheny river.
Having arrived safely at their quarters,
{ the little company set about righting up the
old post 10 make 1t as comfortable as cir
cumstances would permit, and this being
4 done and order once more restored, sentriea
wore placed at oil the advanced points Of
the station, while the strio.est yigilenoe
was both enjojned and exercised by day and
night.
volant tesred into the company, was tall
manly looking young fellow who from fatal
and ,unerting skill as a marksman had re-
ceived the somewhat inspiring nom do
plume Of DEATH. But with whatever JUS
tice bis, name had been applied to him for
bib skill, HE disposition certainly entitled
dhim to no suoh terror spreading epithet.
On the contrary, he was tho very life Of the
company
His rich fund Of mother wit, large social
,proFensities and constant good nature rem.
dered him general fayorite with tho men;
while The never failing stock of game
which his skill enabled him to supply tho
4 mess table of the officers, not only recon.
tnended him to their good graces, but
caused many little short coming of his to
be winked at and passed over in silonco,
which otherwise, perhaps, he might not
& have got over so easy.
The company had not been stationed at
the fort more than week, ere Death, in
one Of his excursions for game, discovered
small farm house, some three miles from
Stanhope, whose equal in beauty and amia-
And to render himself stll more certain of
the fact, he called on the following day
under cover of the pretenso of having loft
his powder flask.
Death was invited to como again by far
mer Stanhope, who happened to be from
the same parish as the father of our hero;
and we need scarcely say that tho invita-
tion was both eagerly and joyfuly accepted
and as often as circumstances would permit,
complied with.
The second week after this occurrence
took place, was marked with two events,
which, though singular, both affected the
welfare Of widely different degrees of i'm.
.portance. The first was, Death had either
lost his skill as marksman or that game
had removed to safer and more distant
neighborhood, for the officers larder had
been sadly wanting in tho items Of wood,
cooks, black cooks, partmigan, &c., for the
week past-and the second aud most i'm
portant of the two events, was, that in reg
ular succession, four sentinels had disap--
pearcd from the extreme left limo, without
leaving the slightest trace to elucidate the
mystory of their disappearance.
The circumstance struck such dread
into the breast of the company, that no
one could be found willing to volunteer to
take the post--well knowing it would be
only like signing their own death warrant
to do 80; and Col. Innis; not wishing to
wilfully sacrifice the lives of his men By
compelling them 10 60, eDjoined double
caution on the remainder Of the sentinels,
and left the post unoooupied for a night or
two.
Two or three accommodating parties had
been despatched off around the noighbor.
hood in the hope of finding some clue to
tho mystery, or of obtaining some intei-
gence of the enemy, but each Of them ro-
turned as wise as they started, with no
reward for thoir trouble except weary
bones.
1t was on the third night of the desor-
tion of the post that our hero, Death, was
returning to tho Fort, after puyng a visit
to Stanhope's farm. The moon was up, but
her light was nearly all obscured by the
dense masses Of clouds which at every few
minutes were driven by pretty stiff breeze
over her face, while the hugo trees, now
all 10 full leaf, cracked and sroaned, and
bent their tall forms to and fro, as the
heavy gusts rushed whistling iu among their
branches.
Our hero had approached within hun
dred yards Of the termination Of the forest
that skirted the small open space in which
tho fort stood, when be suddenly paused
and orouohing down upon his hands and
knees crept cautiously forward few paoes
Z Having remained 10 this position for scvc--
y raj minutes, he stealthily again returned in
the manner he had advanced, and plunged
into the forest at point considerably lower
than whore he had intended to leave it
before.
Col. Innis sat reading alone in his pri-
vate apartment, when an orderly entered
and informed him that one of tho men
1al &N IL 81 rI,1