“Skenando!” exclaimed a comrade, “Stay! the stream runs fierce and wild; And your age will make you weaker In its current than a child. “For the youngest there is danger Ere he’d reach the farther shore, From the raging of the waters, And the rocks o’er which they pour.” “Stay me not!” he answered, sternly; “Vengeance to the flood impels; Hear you not the dying moaning Of the murdered Jenny Wells?” Plunging in the yellow torrent With his tomahawk in hand, Swam the chief of the Oneidas, Struggling till he reached the land— Till upon the green bank’s summit, Close beside the shaded, wood, O’er the sorely wounded Butler With a purpose fierce he stood. Said the pallid, craven butcher, “Let my ransom save my head; I can give you gold if living, I am profitless if dead!” Skenando replied, “With fever I in Cherry Valley lay, Where a white man nursed and healed me, Clothed and sent me on my way. “That same white man had a daughter; She with you in childhood played; Yet one day, when leaves had fallen, By your orders died the maid. “The Oneida, sworn to vengeance, Stands prepared to keep his vow; Think of Jenny Wells and tremble! Ah! you ask no mercy now. “Wretch! remember Cherry Valley!” Sank the Tory with a groan, And the fierce and vengeful savage Drove his hatchet through the bone. * * * * * Back returned the swart Oneidas Ere the setting of the sun; And the scalp of Walter Butler Dangled from the belt of one. To the stout, victorious soldiers Who so well that day had fought, And were now at ease reposing, Pleasant was the news they brought. When was told around the camp-fire How the hatchet clave the brain, Oh, how joyous was the shouting— “Walter Butler has been slain.” _THE FIGHT OF THE MOUNTAINEERS._ From the narrative of a survivor of the gallant men who participated in the fight at King’s Mountain I wrote the ballad, and aimed to give it the simple style of the narrator. But the old man, perfectly truthful in intent, fell into some errors. He omits all mention of the M’Dowells. Colonel M’Dowell was not in the battle. He objected to fighting a battle without a general officer, and he was despatched in search of one. While gone, the rest elected Colonel Campbell to command, and got to work. Major M’Dowell however remained, and commanded the regiments. He calls Shelby, Evan Shelby. But Evan Shelby, who was Isaac’s father, and who distinguished himself at Point Pleasant, was not at King’s Mountain. [Illustration: COLONEL ISAAC SHELBY.] The official account of the battle transmitted to Gates, and probably the correct one, is as follows: