the river. Fortunately for him, a little below this place was an island, against the upper part of which a raft of drift-timber had lodged. He dived under the raft, and, after several efforts, got his head above water amongst the trunks of trees, covered over with smaller wood to the depth of several feet. Scarcely had he secured himself, when the Indians arrived on the river, screeching and yelling, as Colter expressed it, "like so many devils." They were frequently on the raft during the day, and were seen through the chinks by Colter, who was congratulating himself on his escape, until the idea arose that they might set the raft on fire. In horrible suspense, he remained until night, when, hearing no more of the Indians, he dived under the raft, and swam silently down the river to a considerable distance, where he landed, and travelled all night. now cheered the heart of Colter; he derived confidence from the belief that escape was within the bounds of possibility; but that confidence was nearly fatal to him, for he exerted himself to such a degree, that the blood gushed from his nostrils, and soon almost covered the fore part of his body. He had now arrived within a mile of the river, when he distinctly heard the appalling sound of footsteps behind him, and every instant expected to feel the spear of his pursuer. Again he turned his head, and saw the savage not twenty yards from him. Determined, if possible, to avoid the expected blow, he suddenly stopped, turned round, and spread out his arms. The Indian, surprised by the suddenness of the action, and perhaps by the bloody appearance of Colter, also attempted to stop, but, exhausted with running, he fell whilst endeavouring to throw his spear, which stuck in the ground and broke. Colter in-situation was still dreadful. He stantly snatched up the pointed was completely naked, under a part, with which he pinned him burning sun; the soles of his to the earth, and then continued feet were entirely filled with the his flight. thorns of the prickly pear; he was hungry, and had no means of killing game, although he saw abundance around him, and was at least seven days' journey from Lisa's Fort, on the Bighorn branch of the Roche Jaune river. These were circumstances under which almost any man but an American hunter would have despaired. He arrived at the fort in seven days, having subsisted on a root "The foremost of the Indians, on arriving at the place, stopped till others came up to join them, when they set up a hideous yell. Every moment of this time was improved by Colter, who, although fainting and exhausted, succeeded in gaining the skirting of the cotton-tree wood on the borders of the Fork, through which he ran, and plunged into 'Although happy in having escaped from the Indians, his much esteemed by the Indians cursions whenever they crossed of the Missouri.' BRADY'S LEAP. his path, or came within reach of his rifle; for he was personally engaged in more hazardous contests with the savages than any other man west of the mountains, excepting Daniel Boone. He was, in fact, 'an Indian hater,' as many of the early borderers were. This class of Captain Samuel Brady was one of that band of brave men who lived in the trying days of the American Revolution, on the western borders, exposed to all the horrors and dangers of Indian warfare, and whose name should be perpetuated in history. He held a commission under the United States, and, for a part of the time, commanded a company of rangers, who traversed the forests for the protection of the frontiers.lowed that disaster. He was born in Sheppensburgh in the year 1758, and removed, probably when a boy, into the valley of the Monono-gahela. At the period of this adventure he lived on Chartier Creek, about twelve miles below Fort Pitt, a stream better known, however, to the pilots and keel boatmen of modern days by the significant name of 'Shirtee.' He died in 1796, soon after the close of the Indian war. men appear to have been more numerous in this region than in any other portion of the frontiers; and this, doubtless, arose from the slaughter at Braddock's defeat, and the numerous murders and attacks on defenceless families that for many years fol Samuel Brady, the hero of the following adventure, was about six feet in height, with light blue eyes, fair skin, and dark hair; he was remarkably straight; an athletic, bold, and vigorous backwoodsman, inured to all the toils and hardships of a frontier life, and had become very obnoxious to the Indians, from his numerous successful attacks on their war-parties, and from shooting them in his hunting ex Brady was also a very successful trapper and hunter, and took more beavers than any of the Indians themselves. In one of his adventurous trapping excursions to the waters of the Beaver river, or Mahoning,which in early days so abounded with animals of this species, that it took its name from this fact,-it so happened that the Indians surprised him in his camp and took him prisoner. To have shot or tomahawked him on the spot, would have been but a small gratification to that of satiating their revenge by burning him at a slow fire, in presence of all the Indians of their village. He was therefore taken alive to their encampment, on the west bank of the Beaver river, about a mile and a half from its mouth. After the usual exultations and rejoicings at the capture of a noted enemy, and causing him to run the gauntlet, a fire was prepared, near which Brady was placed, after being stripped naked, and with his arms unbound. Previous to tying him to the stake, a large circle was formed around him, consisting of Indian men, women, and children, dancing and yelling, and uttering all manner of threats and abuse that their small knowledge of the English language could afford. The prisoner looked on these preparations for death and on his savage foes with a firm countenance and a steady eye, meeting all their threats with a truly savage fortitude. In the midst of all their dancing and rejoicing, a squaw of one of their chiefs came near him, with a child in her arms; quick as thought, and with intuitive prescience, he snatched it from her, and threw it into the midst of the flames. Horror-struck at the sudden outrage, the Indians simultaneously rushed to rescue the infant from the fire. In the midst of this confusion, Brady darted from the circle, outrunning all that came in his way, and rushed into the adjacent thickets, with the Indians yelling at his heels. He ascended the steep side of a high hill amidst a shower of bullets, and darting down the opposite declivity, secreted himself in the deep ravines and laurel thickets that abound for several miles to the west of it. His knowledge of the country and wonderful activity enabled him to elude his enemies and to reach the settlements on the south of the Ohio river, which he crossed by swimming. The hill near whose base this adventure is said to have happened still goes by his name; and the incident is often referred to by the traveller as the coach is slowly dragged up its side. Captain Brady seems to have been as much the Daniel Boone of the north-east part of the valley of the Ohio as the other was of the south-west; and the country is equally full of traditionary legends of his hardy adventures and hairbreadth escapes, although he has lacked a Flint to chronicle his fame, and to transmit it to posterity in the glowing and beautiful language of that distinguished annalist of the west. From undoubted authority, it seems the following incident actually transpired in this vicinity. Brady resided on Chartier Creek, on the south side of the Ohio; and being a man of herculean strength, activity, and courage, he was generally selected as the leader of the hardy borderers in all their incursions into the Indian territory north of the river. About the year 1780, on one occasion, a large party of warriors, from the falls of the Cuyahoga and the adjacent country, had made an inroad on the south side of the Ohio river, in the lower part of what is now Washington county, but which was then known as the settlement of the 'Catfish Camp,' after an old Indian of that name, who lived there when the whites first came into the country, on the Monono-gahela river. This party had murdered several families, and with the plunder had re-crossed the Ohio before effectual pursuit could be made. By Brady a party was quickly summoned of his chosen followers, who hastened on after them; but the Indians having one or two days the start, he could not overtake them in time to arrest their return to the villages. Near the spot where the town of Ravenna now stands, the Indians separated into two parties, one of which went to the north, and the other west, to the falls of the Cuyahoga. Brady's men also divided; a part pursued the northern trail, and a part went with their commander to the Indian village, lying on the river in the present township of Northampton, in Portage county. Although Brady made his approaches with the utmost caution, the Indians, expecting a pursuit, were on the look-out, and ready to receive him with numbers fourfold to those of his own party, whose only safety was in a hasty retreat, which, from the ardour of the pursuit, soon became a perfect flight. Brady directed his men to separate, and each one to take care of himself; but the Indians knowing Brady, and having a most inveterate hatred and dread of him, from the numerous chas tisements which he had inflicted upon them, left all the others, and with united strength pursued him alone. The Cuyahoga here makes a wide bend to the south, including a large tract of several miles of surface, in the form of a peninsula. Within this tract the pursuit was hotly contested. The Indians, by extending their line to the right and left, forced him on the bank of the stream. Having in peaceable times often hunted over this ground with the Indians, and knowing every turn of the Cuyahoga as familiarly as the villager knows the streets of his own hamlet, Brady directed his course to the river, at a spot where the whole stream is compressed by the rocky cliffs into a narrow channel of only twenty-two feet across the top of the chasm, although it is considerably wider beneath, near the water, and in height more than twice that number of feet above the current. Through this pass the water rushes like a race-horse, chafing and roaring at the confinement of its current by the rocky channel, while a short distance above the stream it is at least fifty yards wide. As he approached the chasm, Brady, knowing that life or death was in the effort, concentrated his mighty powers, and leaped the stream at a single bound. It so happened that on the opposite cliff the leap was favoured by a low place, into which he dropped, and grasping the bushes, he thus helped himself to ascend to the top of the cliff. The Indians for a few moments were lost in wonder and admiration; and before they had recovered their recollection, he was half-way up the side of the opposite hill, but still within reach of their rifles. They could easily have shot him at any moment before, but, being bent upon taking him alive for torture, and to glut their long delayed revenge, they forbore the use of the rifle; but now, seeing him likely to escape, they all fired upon him; one bullet wounded him severely in the hip, but not so badly as to prevent his progress. The Indians having to make a considerable circuit before they could cross the stream, Brady advanced a good distance ahead. His limb was growing stiff from the wound, and, as the Indians gained on him, he made for the pond which now bears his name, and plunging in, swam under water a considerable distance, and came up under the trunk of a large oak which had fallen into the pond. This, although only leaving a small breathing place. to support life, still completely sheltered him from their sight. The Indians tracing him by the blood to the water, made diligent search all round the pond, but finding no signs of his exit, finally came to the conclusion that he had sunk and was drowned. As they were at one time standing on the very tree beneath which he was concealed, Brady, understanding their language, was very glad to hear the result of their deliberations; and after they had gone, weary, lame, and hungry, he made good his retreat to his own home. His followers also all returned in safety. The chasm across which he leaped is known in all that region by the name of Brady's Leap. CHAPTER IX. THREE REMARKABLE INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 'I HAD left the village of Shaw- | least in the course of my life, ney, situated on the banks of entirely engaged in commercial the Ohio, on my return from speculations. I had forded Henderson, also on the banks Highland Creek, and was on of the same beautiful stream. the eve of entering a tract of The weather was pleasant, and bottom land or valley that lay I thought not warmer than between it and Canoe Creek, usual at that season. My horse when on a sudden I remarked was jogging quietly along, and a great difference in the aspect my thoughts were, for once at of the heavens. A hazy thick |
