It was now the autumn of 1780. The great revolutionary struggle of the colonies was nearly terminated, and many were turning their attention toward the millions of acres of rich land beyond the Ohio. The advent of a foreign army had impoverished the country, and many a homestead had been razed to the earth and its wealth swept away for ever. Several new settlements had been implanted upon the river above, and the old ones, in spite of the disastrous circumstances by which they were surrounded, had continued to thrive and increase. It sometimes seems, when emigration commences to a new country like the West, at this time, that the settlers are without will of their own, but fulfilling destiny, for no combination of opposition, dangers and perils can check them. Rumors constantly reached the East of the horrid barbarities perpetrated, and of the numerous flat-boats that were decoyed into shore and their inmates slaughtered; and yet there was hardly a week in which some boat, freighted with its weak and defenceless load, did not launch upon the Ohio and turn their prow fearlessly forward. Some of these were victims to the cruelty of the renegades and savages, but their places were filled by others as hopeful and eager as they had been. And amid all these formidable circumstances there were meek and good men who hesitated not to brave all for the pleasure of their good Master. The Moravian missionaries had penetrated the wilderness, and the seed sown by them was already bearing good fruit. Numbers of Indians were converted to Christ, and withstood all the temptations of the chase and battle-field. They remained together and engaged in agriculture, and withdrew entirely from their rude and warlike brethren. It was a beautiful and instructive sight—the one small spot radiant with the smile of Heaven amid the mighty wilderness, made doubly dark and gloomy by the hand of man. The faithful energetic followers of Wesley were already numbered among the pioneers. They were brave, resolute men, who could shoulder the rifle and lead to battle, swing the glittering ax in the forest, or point the way to heaven. Theirs was the religion for the time. Freed from the restraints and conventionalities of civilized life, it was from the heart. Its representatives were men whose words were plain to the uneducated backwoodsman, and who never set forth truth beyond their comprehension.