Returning to the room where he had left Mr. Clark, he made profuse apology and expressed sincere regret for the mistake; promising to rectify it by commanding the immediate return of his kinsman; which he was sorry to say would take several months, due to the time consumed in the voyage and the uncertainty of sailings. He however made up his mind to keep Clark a prisoner when he was returned.
Shortly after Mr. Clark left the Governor’s office the captain returned and reported that Campbell had departed for Kentucky the night before. The Governor, put out by this information, told the captain: “His capture is of the utmost political importance; you are to take him dead or alive; waste no time and take a sufficient force to do so. If necessary, pursue him to [pg 226] New Madrid or even to the Ohio River. The man who captures or kills him is to have a reward of one thousand pesetas.”
When the pursuit began the pirogue in which John and his friend Ben Logan and Mr. Ballinger were traveling had a start of sixty miles. He told Logan why he was fleeing from New Orleans, but did not dare tell Ballinger, who assumed that the cause for haste was business of vital importance; and himself anxious to get to Kentucky was no laggard with his paddle.
The first twenty-four hours they never landed from the canoe; all the while two paddled while the third rested. At the end of that time they went ashore to relieve their cramped limbs and to prepare food. Logan shot a wild turkey, which they roasted over the hot coals of their camp fire; resuming their journey they paddled twelve hours before making the second stop. By the evening of the third day, feeling comparatively safe, they spent the night ashore, and from that time, whenever they were cramped or needed rest, went ashore.
At sundown one evening, they landed at Chickasaw Bluffs, the deserted site of an old Chickasaw town and where in 1698 the French had built a fort. Pulling their pirogue well up on the bar, they climbed the bluff to buy provisions at Isaac Taylor’s Station.
Ballinger and Logan went into the cabin but John stood outside looking first up and then down the river, charmed by the magnificent view and for a time oblivious of immediate surroundings. Then down the river not more than a quarter of a mile, he observed two boats loaded with Spanish soldiers, and headed for their landing.
He ran to the cabin and telling Logan what he had seen, directed him to buy a few supplies, while he ran [pg 227] down to the pirogue and gathered up their belongings. Then he and Logan telling Ballinger that they were pursued by two boat loads of Spanish soldiers, advised that they take to the forest.
Ballinger, frightened on account of the money and messages in his possession which he had been instructed to deliver to Wilkinson, readily agreed and the three taking to their heels disappeared into the forest.
The soldiers, who had not seen John, immediately upon landing examined the canoe. It was readily identified as the one they sought. They came carefully up the bank and quietly surrounded the cabin, supposing their quarry within. Then the Captain and two soldiers, with muskets cocked and presented entered the cabin door and found old man Taylor, sitting by the fire, pipe in mouth and half asleep.
Informed that the men had left the cabin not more than ten minutes before, they spent a good part of the night scouring the woods and at daylight resumed the search which was continued for several days; while those they sought with the unerring instinct of woodsmen were traveling, as the crow flies, toward Cumberland Gap. When they reached a river they did not hunt for ford or boat, but binding several dry logs together with grape vines, placed their clothing and dunnage upon them and swam for the opposite bank, resting upon and shoving their light raft before them. Twelve days later, the men, footsore and ragged, arrived at Campbell Station.