its defenceless position, sallied out in their canoes, and butchered or captured all who were aboard.  Their cries were distinctly heard by the rearmost of the other craft, who could not stem the current and come to their rescue.  But a dreadful retribution fell on the Indians; for they were infected with the disease of their victims, and for some months virulent small-pox raged among many of the bands of Creeks and Cherokees.  When stricken by the disease, the savages first went into the sweat-houses, and when heated to madness, plunged into the cool streams, and so perished in multitudes.

When the boats entered the Narrows they had lost sight of the Indians on shore, and thought they had left them behind.  A man, who was in a canoe, had gone aboard one of the larger boats with his family, for the sake of safety while passing through the rough water.  His canoe was towed alongside, and in the rapids it was overturned, and the cargo lost.  The rest of the company, pitying his distress over the loss of all his worldly goods, landed, to see if they could not help him recover some of his property.  Just as they got out on the shore to walk back, the Indians suddenly appeared almost over them, on the high cliffs opposite, and began to fire, causing a hurried retreat to the boats.  For some distance the Indians lined the bluffs, firing from the heights into the boats below.  Yet only four people were wounded, and they not dangerously.  One of them was a girl named Nancy Gower.  When, by the sudden onslaught of the Indians, the crew of the boat in which she was were thrown into dismay, she took the helm and steered, exposed to the fire of the savages.  A ball went through the upper part of one of her thighs, but she neither flinched nor uttered any cry; and it was not known that she was wounded until, after the danger was past, her mother saw the blood soaking through her clothes.  She recovered, married one of the frontiersmen, and lived for fifty years afterwards, long enough to see all the wilderness filled with flourishing and populous States.

One of the clumsy craft, however, did not share the good fortune that befell the rest, in escaping with so little loss and damage.  Jonathan Jennings’ boat, in which was Mrs. Peyton, with her new-born baby, struck on a rock at the upper end of the whirl, the swift current rendering it impossible for the others to go to his assistance; and they drifted by, leaving him to his fate.  The Indians soon turned their whole attention to him, and from the bluffs opened a most galling fire upon the disabled boat.  He returned it as well as he could, keeping them somewhat in check, for he was a most excellent marksman.  At the same time he directed his two negroes, a man and woman, his nearly grown son, and a young man who was with him, to lighten the boat by throwing his goods into the river.  Before this was done, the negro man, the son, and the other young man most basely jumped into the river, and swam ashore.  It is