We continued our journey much in the same manner till the 11th: as during the whole time we had seen or heard nothing of the northward Indians, the Cherokees had so menaced us with, we began to imagine ourselves secure, and that they had, for some reasons, imposed on us, when the report of a gun on one side of the river undeceived us; for as the Cherokees had told us how much the northward Indians frequented this place, it was reasonable to conclude, that they themselves came only here to fight, at which time they seldom fire, as that gives notice to the enemy where to come and reconnoitre them, but seek to hear their adversaries fire, that their scouts may measure their forces, and they take all advantages of the enemy before they come to action. We therefore concluded that this must certainly be a party of northern hunters. We were talking of this, when another gun from the opposite shore declared us in the midst of our enemies, whom there was no resisting; we heard several more some time after, which made us go as far as we possibly could before we encamped, which we did very cautiously, retiring into a thicket of canes, and chusing to lay on our wet and cold blankets, rather than make a fire to dry them, by which we might be discovered. Next day we heard several more guns on both sides of the river, which made us conjecture that the Indians had watched us, but not finding our encampment the night before, were still following us. I was resolved, however, to encamp in such an inconvenient manner no more, and to make a fire at night, whatever might be the consequence. We took all other imaginable precautions, encamping in a thicket of canes, impenetrable to the eye, as we had done the preceding night. About midnight some drops falling on my face from the trees under which we lay, awaked me, on which I imagined I heard something walk round our camp. I lay still some time to consider what could be patroling at that time of night in the rain, a thing unusual for wild beasts to do, when M‘Cormack, who had been awake for some time, asked me if I heard the noise. I told him yes, very plain, for by the cracking of the sticks that lay on the ground I could perceive it approached us. M‘Cormack starting up, swore directly it was a party of northern Indians, and ran down, in a pannic, to the canoe, and, had not I followed to prevent him, would certainly have made off with it, and left us exposed to the mercy of the enemy, if there were any pursuing us, without any means of escape; but for my part, I imagined it some half-starved animal looking for food; and Sumpter had been so certain of this, that he never moved from where he lay; for when, in an hour after, I had persuaded M‘Cormack to return to the camp, we found Sumpter fast asleep, and the noise entirely gone. We set out early the next day, on account of this alarm, and about 12 o’clock heard a noise like distant thunder. In half an hour