242 The Winning of the West 



care to avoid being surprised. They greatly ham- 

 pered the Indian war bands, but now and then the 

 latter slipped by and fell on the people they protect- 

 ed. Early in August such a band committed some 

 ravages south of the Kentucky, beating back with 

 loss a few militia who followed it. Some of the 

 Fayette men were about setting forth to try 

 and cut off its retreat, when the sudden and un- 

 looked-for approach of Caldwell and McKee's great 

 war party obliged them to bend all their energies 

 to their own defence. 



The blow fell on Bryan's Station. The rangers 

 and warriors moved down through the forest with 

 the utmost speed and stealth, hoping to take this, 

 the northernmost of the stockades, by surprise. If 

 they had succeeded, Lexington and the three smaller 

 stations north of the Kentucky would probably like- 

 wise have fallen. 



The attack was made early on the morning of 

 the 1 6th of August. Some of the settlers were in 

 the corn-fields, and the rest inside the palisade of 

 standing logs; they were preparing to follow the 

 band of marauders who had gone south of the Ken- 

 tucky. A few outlying Indian spies were "discov- 

 ered, owing to their eagerness; and the whites be- 

 ing put on their guard, the attempt to carry the fort 

 by the first rush was, of course, foiled. Like so 

 many other stations but unlike Lexington, 

 Bryan's had no spring within its walls ; and as soon 

 as there was reason to dread an attack, it became a 

 matter of vital importance to lay in a supply of wa- 



