178 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



Scott. Not but the half would still be sufficient, but how- 

 could he reconcile himself to become dependant on the 

 bounty of his Indiana, in his old age. 



But what could be done. The day of trial was fast 

 approaching, and although he would have made another 

 attempt at compromise with the heir himself, if he could 

 have found him, yet he could not bring himself to the dis- 

 gusting task of making any proposal to his Attorney. 

 Excitement among the people ran high in his favor, for 

 he was much esteemed; but what would that avail him 

 in law. There were two points only, and they were weak 

 ones, his Attorney advised him, in his favor: Atwater's 

 Attorney might neglect to prove the identity of the 

 claimant, and that he was then living for no one expected 

 that he would then be present; or he might neglect to 

 bring evidence to establish him as the legal heir of Abel 

 Atwater. Futile hope. Why did not the thought occur 

 to them, that he might raise an objection on his part, to 

 the legal right of Indiana, to the inheritance of the lost 

 hero of Tippecanoe. At length calmness settled upon 

 their minds, and they began to make arrangements to 

 make a virtue of necessity, and quietly yield to the im- 

 pending fate that hung over them, and give up one-half 

 of all their posoessions, to be scattered to the four winds 

 of heaven by the debauched, profligate heir, and his 

 worthy coadjutor, his Attorney. 



Through his attorney, Scott made the proposition, and 

 received for an answer, that nothing short of the whole, 

 "together with all the rents, issues and profits thereof, 

 or one half, and the hand of Indiana, would now be re- 

 ceived." This time he did not communicate the answer 

 to his wife or Indiana. But gloomy forebodings settled 

 upon his mind, as to the result of the trial. Indiana, 

 though she was no believer in dreams, could not drive the 

 impression from her mind, that she should yet escape 

 from the coils of the monstrous serpent in which her 

 father had seen her entwined. — This serpent, Atwater 

 dreamed, had the body, fetid breath and forked tongue 



