Tales, Traditions and Romance of Border and Revolutionary TimesEllis, Edward Sylvester
History
Tales, Traditions and Romance of Border and Revolutionary Times
Ellis, Edward Sylvester
Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- Anecdotes; United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Anecdotes
To show the perfect isolation in which some of the pioneers lived, and
the manner of their lives, we will give an anecdote of a Mr. Muldrow,
one of the settlers of Kentucky, whose name is still attached to a range
of savage precipices in the central part of the State, called Muldrow's
hill. The individual referred to settled here at a time when there was
not a single white man but himself in this vicinity, and here he had
resided for a year with his wife, without having seen the face of any
other human being. Perhaps, as it was his choice to reside in a
wilderness, isolated from his own species, he might have thought it
prudent to conceal his place of abode from the Indians, by erecting his
cabin in an inhospitable waste, difficult of access, where there were no
pastures to invite the deer or buffalo, and no game to allure the savage
hunter, and where his family remained secure, while he roved with his
gun over some hunting-ground at a convenient distance.
After passing a year in this mode of life, he was one day wandering
through the woods in search of game, when he heard the barking of a dog,
and supposing that an Indian was near, concealed himself. Presently a
small dog came running along his track, with his nose to the ground, as
if pursuing his footsteps, and had nearly reached his hiding-place, when
it stopped, snuffed the air, and uttered a low whine, as if to admonish
its master that the object of pursuit was near at hand. In a few minutes
the owner of the dog came stepping cautiously along, glancing his eyes
jealously around, and uttering low signals to the dog. But the dog stood
at fault, and the owner halted within a few yards of our hunter and
exposed to view.
The new-comer was a tall, athletic man, completely armed with rifle,
tomahawk and knife; but whether he was a white man or an Indian, could
not be determined either by his complexion or dress. He wore a
hunting-shirt and leggins, of dressed deer-skin, and a hat from which
the rim was entirely worn away, and the crown elongated into the shape
of a sugar-loaf. The face, feet and hands, which were exposed, were of
the tawny hue of the savage; but whether the color was natural, or the
effect of exposure, could not be ascertained even by the keen eye of the
hunter; and the features were so disguised with dirt and gunpowder, that
their expression afforded no clue by which the question could be decided
whether the person was a friend or foe. There was but a moment for
scrutiny; the pioneer, inclining to the opinion that the stranger was an
Indian, cautiously drew up his rifle, and took deliberate aim; but the
bare possibility that he might be pointing his weapon at the bosom of a
countryman induced him to pause.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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