144 The Winning of the West 



tion Brady continued to be a tower of strength to 

 the frontier settlers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. 

 At the head of his rangers he harassed the Indians 

 greatly, interfering with and assailing their war 

 parties, and raiding their villages and home camps. 

 Like his foes, he warred by ambush and surprise. 

 Among the many daring backwoodsmen who were 

 his followers and companions the traditions pay 

 particular heed to one Phouts, "a stout thick Dutch 

 man of uncommon strength and activity." 



In spite of the counter strokes of the wild wood- 

 rangers, the Indian ravages speedily wrapped the 

 frontier in fire and blood. In such a war the small 

 parties were really the most dangerous, and in the 

 aggregate caused most damage. It is less of a para 

 dox than it seems, to say that one reason why the 

 Indians were so formidable in warfare was because 

 they were so few in numbers. Had they been more 

 numerous they would perforce have been tillers of 

 the soil, and it would have been far easier for the 

 whites to get at them. They were able to wage a 

 war so protracted and murderous, only because of 

 their extreme elusiveness. There was little chance 

 to deliver a telling blow at enemies who had hardly 

 anything of value to destroy, who were so compara 

 tively few in number that they could subsist year 

 in and year out on game, and whose mode of life 

 rendered them as active, stealthy, cautious, and fero 

 cious as so many beasts of prey. 



Though the frontiers of Pennsylvania and of 

 Virginia proper suffered much, Kentucky suffered 



