174 The Winning of the West 



to submit to command or to bear rule over others. 

 His feats were performed when he was either alone 

 or with two or three associates. An army of such 

 men would have been wholly valueless. 



Another man, of a far higher type, was Captain 

 Samuel Brady, already a noted Indian fighter on the 

 Alleghany. For many years after the close of the 

 Revolutionary War he was the chief reliance of the 

 frontiersmen of his own neighborhood. He had lost 

 a father and a brother by the Indians ; and in return 

 he followed the red men with relentless hatred. But 

 he never killed peaceful' Indians nor those who came 

 in under flags of truce. The tale of his wanderings, 

 his captivities, his hairbreadth escapes, and deeds of 

 individual prowess would fill a book. He frequently 

 went on scouts alone, either to procure information 

 or to get scalps. On these trips he was not only 

 often reduced to the last extremity by hunger, fa- 

 tigue, and exposure, but was in hourly peril of his 

 life from the Indians he was hunting. Once he was 

 captured; but when about to be bound to the stake 

 for burning he suddenly flung an Indian boy into 

 the fire, and in the confusion burst through the 

 warriors, and actually made his escape, though the 

 whole pack of yelling savages followed at his heels 

 with rifle and tomahawk. He raised a small com- 

 pany of scouts or rangers, and was one of the very 

 few captains able to reduce the unruly frontiersmen 

 to order. In consequence his company on several 

 occasions fairly whipped superior numbers of In- 

 dians in the woods ; a feat that no regulars could per- 



