Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 217 



After the lease was signed, a day was appointed 

 on which to hold a great race, as well as wrestling- 

 matches and other sports, at Watauga. Not only 

 many whites from the various settlements, but also 

 a number of Indians, came to see or take part in 

 the sports ; and all went well until the evening, when 

 some lawless men from Wolf Hills, who had been 

 lurking in the woods round about, 35 killed an In- 

 dian, whereat his fellows left the spot in great anger. 



The settlers now saw themselves threatened with 

 a bloody and vindictive Indian war, and were 

 plunged into terror and despair; yet they were 

 rescued by the address and daring of Robertson. 

 Leaving the others to build a formidable palisaded 

 fort, under the leadership of Sevier, Robertson set 

 off alone through the woods and followed the great 

 war trace down to the Cherokee towns. His mis- 

 sion was one of the greatest peril, for there was im- 

 minent danger that the justly angered savages 

 would take his life. But he was a man who never 

 rushed heedlessly into purposeless peril, and never 

 flinched from a danger which there was an object 

 in encountering. His quiet, resolute fearlessness 

 doubtless impressed the savages to whom he went, 



the Nolichucky, who acquired a beautiful and fertile valley in 

 exchange for the merchandise carried on the back of a single 

 pack-horse. Among the whites themselves transfers of land 

 were made in very simple forms, and conveyed not the fee 

 simple but merely the grantor's claim. 



35 Hay wood says they were named Crabtree ; Putnam hints 

 that they had lost a brother when Boone's party was attacked 

 and his son killed ; but the attack on Boone did not take place 

 till over a year after this time. 



J VOL. V. 



