"I did. Colonel Thomas Marshall commanded one of the boats, with whom there were a number of Virginians, several of them personally known to me."

"Was there a family by the name of Walton among them?"

"Walton—Walton? I don't know them."

"A father, mother and daughter; the girl eighteen, and uncommonly good looking—present a much richer appearance than is usual with emigrants."

"I remember them; they went in another boat."

"Do you think they have reached Maysville yet?"

"If unusually lucky, they have; but most probably not."

"Then there is a possibility of their being overtaken, you think?"

"There may be; particularly if any bad luck has attended them."

"Quick, then, quick! away!—Have the boat decoyed to the shore, and captured by the Indians! You understand, captured: the girl must on no account be killed."