JAMES HARROD, OF HARRODSBURO. 241 



" Good morning, Jones !" 



A few hours afterwards, Jones' horse, with his snip on his 

 nose, is quietly driven up to the fence and turned in James 

 Harrod walks on. 



News comes into the station that the Indians have attacked 

 the house of a settler, five miles distant, and murdered all the 

 family but the two daughters, whom they are hurrying off to 

 a brutal and perilous captivity the war-cry of Harrod is 

 instantly heard. 



" Come, boys ! come, boys ! we must catch those rascals 

 we can't spare our girls !" 



While his dark complexion glows with enthusiasm, and his 

 black eye flames again the men know their leader, for he is 

 off without them in a moment, and they are soon ready. 



The swift and tireless pursuit, the wary approach to the 

 camp, the night attack, with its short, fierce struggle, the 

 rescue, the return, were all the not unusual incidents of their 

 wild life. 



In the capacity of spy, guide or ranger captain, his excur- 

 sions into the Indian country were very daring and frequent. 

 There was no enterprise too audacious for his enthusiasm, 

 none requiring patience, dexterity, endurance of hunger, 

 thirst and fatigue, too serious for his cool self-reliance to 

 undertake, and that most frequently alone. He avoided, 

 when possible, having other men with him, for, he said, they 

 always complained of the hardships or the dangers before the 

 fun was fairly commenced with him, and therefore it cost him 

 more trouble to take care of them, than to do all there was 

 to be done himself, twice over. This extraordinary love of 

 solitary adventure was one of the marked characteristics 

 of James Harrod. Indeed, the Indians christened him the 

 "Lone Long-Knife," and dreaded his mysterious prowess 

 very greatly. 



He on several occasions entered their villages in the night 

 to ascertain their plans; and once, when discovered by a 



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