The hour was eleven o'clock at night. One of the unmarried daughters
was still busily engaged at the loom, but the other members of the
family, with the exception of one of the sons, had retired to rest.
Some symptoms of an alarming nature had engaged the attention of the
young man for an hour before any thing of a decided character took
place. The cry of owls was heard in the adjoining wood, answering each
other in rather an unusual manner. The horses which were enclosed as
usual in a pound near the house were more than commonly their excited,
and by repeated snorting and galloping, announced the presence of some
object of terror. The young man was often upon the point of awakening
his brother, but was as often restrained by the fear of incurring
ridicule and their reproach of timidity, at that time an unpardonable
blemish in the character of a Kentuckian. At length, hasty steps were
heard in the yard, and quickly afterwards several knocks at the door,
accompanied by the usual exclamation, "who keeps house?" in very good
English.
The young man, supposing from the language, that some benighted
settlers were at the door, hastily arose and advancing to withdraw the
bar which secured it, when his mother, who had long lived upon the
frontiers, and had probably detected the Indian tone in the demand for
admission, sprung out of bed, and ordered her son not to admit them,
declaring that they were Indians.
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