Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-08-16


careful to leave the prin Of her foot
in every muddy place Il eculd find,
when it was possible 30 30 with
out detection. She 81 broke Of
small twigs occasion1 but was
caught in doing it, an threatened
with the tomahawk il persisted.
The country was COZ red with a
dense underground Of NE, and in
order to mislead pursq more ef-
fectaally the girls, insl|<d Of being
marched one after the other, we're
forced to separate and lk in par
allel lines, out Of siQl bnt within
hearing Of each 9TH This was
kept mp until darkn made fur
tlier progress impoeai when the
tired oeptives. after ing been
given little jsrked n1esfs vero sI-
lowed to lie down and IT, what rest
they could on the ground with moth
ing between them and the cool night
wind except the clothing they wore.
Very early next morning they were
again in motion; the hardy frontier
life of the girls had 90 Injured them
to out-of door exercise that By Mon
day night their csptors had carried
them more than 30 miles from the
fort when the camp was once more
made. All we're footsore, however,
and weary, and the two younger
girls occasionally cried bitterly,
while Betsey comforted and consol-
ed them with the hope Of rescue,
whispered when they we're allowed
to rest together. The first night
she had been careful to tear several
pieces ont of her dress in the dark
ness and she had fouad opportuni-
ties of dropping them unseen along
the line of march on Monday.
1t had been afternoon when the
girls were captured, and their cap
tors had gained more than an hours
march before the men of the settle
Inent returned, two of them to find
their daughters gone, while for three
others the capture meant the loss of
their sweethearts, Jemima Boone
and Fanny Galloway, though but
IA, were pretty and vell-developed
girls, and their isolation from other
girls companionship and association
with their elders had made them
much mors >vs~uoraY than thsaser-
age woman Of their age. Already
two Of the young men Of the fort
had been regarding them with some
thing more than merely friendly
eyes. Those were days when wo-
men married early, and Betsey CAL
laway, being 16, was considered to
be of quite marriaeeable age by
more than one.
No time was lost by the men when
the news of the capture was heard.
Colonel Galloway, with several
others, set of to the northward on
horseback to intercept the Indians
in case they should attempt to cross
the Ohio to the Indian settlements,
but Boone, with the lovers of the
three girls and four other men, at
tempted the more difficult task of
following the trail on foot. This
was easy enough until the water
course was reached, where the girls
had been forced to wade. There
much time was lost in the effort to
find the trail before the place was
found where Betsey had stamped
her shoe in the moist sand on the
bank. When nighs closed the party
had only gone FIVE miles and the
Indians were still far ahead.
Much of the distance was made
up on the following day; the pieces
Of Betsey's dress were found, as
well as the broken twigs, and by
Monday night the two parties were
not very far apart. For the first
time since the capture the Indians
dared build . IRE next morning. to
cook some of the meat of q buffalo
calf which they had killed. Their
camp for the night had been made
in q dense canebrake, and they
trusted to it to conceal the smoke
from their fire. While two Of them
bent over the flame cooking, the
others lay about in various attitudes,
and the girls were crouched at the
foot of a tree. Betsey sitting with
the heads of the two younger girls
in her lap.
1t was thus that Boone's party
found them; all we're of guard and
unsuspicious Of danger aud, az the
frontiersmen advanced, only two of
the Indians were near enough to