The Portland daily press., 1892-06-09
(ooNT1NuEp FROM ELEVENTH PAGE.)

were limited, and in the next place be-
cause it was believed that Camp Dick
Robinson, seventy five miles to the north
west, could be reached in five days.
In order to keep up the impression that
there were still men at the Crossing ready
to resist an attack, it was arranged that
the women should light the beacons on
the hills as soon as Dick Bradley gave
the order to march. This was done SO
promptly that for hours the fugitives
could see the coppery glow of the fires
on the clouds to the south, and this
strengthened the hope that there would
be no pursuit.
Although at the best the roads in this
region were wretched, and now almost
impossible, it was to their advantage
that the Cumberland river was at then
back and no formidable stream in front.
sHow we moved in the right direction
that night must ever remain to me
mystery" says Miss Peters. Before we
had been on the way an hour we were
all as wet as if we had been soused in
pond, and mother and I, being compare
lively inactive, were chilled to the bone.
I did not fear, because did not care for
myself. Iwould picture father walking
ahead with that giant, Bradley, through
the darkness and mire, and could not
but picture the one so powerful and
fierce and the other SO weak and mild,
yet with spirit as dauntless as the
bravest.
eve had no means of telling the time,
but though tried to reason with myself
that minutes must seem drawn into
hours under such circumstances, yet
came to feel that the sun would never
rise again. It was about two o'clock in
the morning that we came to halt,
whether in a valley or on g. hill, in
forest or a clearing, could not tell.
My father came back to us as CHEEKY as
ever, though knew from my own con-
dition how he must have felt. He told
us that there was vacant cabin at
hand, and that Bradley thought it would
be we'll to halt here till daylight.
"Mother and I were so cold and stiff
when we were lifted from our horses
that we would have fallen had not the
men held us up.
''We were led into the cabin, and I
supposed everything was so wet that it
would be folly to think of fire and i'm
possible to start one; but in this was
mistaken. While mother and I sat on
the saddles that had been carried in to
furnish us with seats, Dick Bradley pro-
duced his flint and steel-every noun
taineer carries these primitive appliances
and, tearing off some dry splinters and
bark from the inner side of the logs, he
soon had a blaze, and, following that, a
fire. Except the four log walls and the
roof, which must have been the better
part, for it kept the clay floor dry, there
was absolutely nothing to this cabin.
The pile of ashes on the big hearth
showed that the place had once been in
habited, but, miserable though 1 was, I
did not wonder that the builders had
abandoned such a wretched place."
Dick Bradley threw a circle of picl1ets
around the cabin and, although he was
entirely ignorant of military methods,
be- arranged to visit them every hour,
give them a countersign and detailed
Jelief. While this was being done, the
men not on picket carried in logs to be
used as fuel or for seats, and then sat
down, and soon the cabin was filed with
steam and the odor of toasting flannels.
as soon as the saddle blankets were
sufficiently dry, bed was made for
Mrs. Peters and her daughter.
''But," continued Miss Peters, sal
though thoroughly wearied, sleep was
out of the question. The whistling of
the wind through the surrounding trees,
the ceaseless beating of the rain on the
clapboards and the hoarse whispering
of the men crouching beside the fire
kept mother and myself awake, as the
roar of a battle might not have done.
'sWhen my fathers watch told that
daylight was due, the men about the fire
began to eat of the cornbread and
cooked pork they had brought with
them, and Dick Bradley and father
went out to visit the pickets. With the
dawn of day the rain ceased and the
wind died out. Mother and I left the
cabin to look about us. We saw the
horses standing with lowered heads and
dropping hips at the chimney end of the
cabin. We were in the midst of forest,
seemingly On the top of considerable
hill. Down through the trees and in
direction we took to be the north we
saw the red rutted trail that looked like
fresh wound.
"While we stood looking about us, we
saw father and Bradley coming hurried
ly back and evidently much excited.
Father did not appear to be weary, but
there was an anxious, panied look in his
eyes such as we had not noticed since
the day the meeting house was burned"
The pickets had reported suspicious
men seen in the distance since daylight.
These men were gathering along the line
of the trail over which the fugitives must
pass on their way to the north. They
were in considerable force, and that they
were not friends was manifest from their
actions.
The cabin might afford some shelter
from a storm, but it was worse than
useless as a place of defense. On spur
of the hill to the north and about
quarter Of mile from the cabin, Brad