“And the old Indian he was took with the shine o' these shoe-buckles, and he thought he might as well hev 'em as anybody; so he jest laid down his tommyhawk, and got down on his knees, and was workin' away as earnest as could be to get off the buckles, and Col. Eph he jest made a dart forward and picked up the tommyhawk, and split open the Indian's skull with one blow: then he cut the withs that was round his legs, and in a minute he was off on the run with the tommyhawk in his hand. There was three Indians give chase to him, but Col. Eph he kep' ahead of 'em. He said while he was a runnin' he was cryin,' and callin' on the Lord with all his might, and the words come into his mind he read at prayers the night afore, 'The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.'
“At last he see the Indians gained on him; and he faced round suddenly, and struck the nighest one smack on the head with his tommyhawk. Then when the next one come up he cut him down too; and the third one, when he see both the others cut down, and Col. Eph comin' full blaze towards him with his tommyhawk a swingin', he jest turned and run for dear life. Then Col. Eph he turned and cut for the settlement. He run, and he run, and he run, he didn't well know how long, till, finally, he was clear tuckered out, and he jest dropped down under a tree and slept; and he lay there all the rest of that day, and all night, and never woke till the next day about sundown.
“Then he woke up, and found he was close by home, and John Stebbins, his wife's father, and a whole party, was out lookin' for him.
“Old Col. Eph used to tell the story as long as he lived, and the tears used to run down his cheeks when he told it.
“'There's a providence in every thing,' he used to say, 'even down to shoe-buckles. Ef my Sunday shoes hadn't happened to 'a' set there so I could 'a' slipped into 'em, I couldn't 'a' killed that Indian, and I shouldn't 'a' been here to-day.' Wal, boys, he was in the right on't. Some seem to think the Lord don't look out only for gret things, but, ye see, little things is kind o' hinges that gret ones turns on. They say, take care o' pennies, and dollars 'll take care o' themselves. It's jest so in every thing; and, ef the Lord don't look arter little things, he ain't so gret as they say, anyway.
“Wal, wal,” said Sam in conclusion, “now, who'd 'a' thought that anybody could 'a' made any thing out o' Indians? Yet there 'twas. All them Martha Vineyard Indians turned Christians, and there was Indian preachers and Indian teachers; and they reely did settle down, and get to be quite like folks. But I tell you, boys, it took faith to start with.”