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 muddy roads and trails through the dark woods would be thronged with the panic-stricken people fleeing to the fort for protection. Most of the men were absent at the front fighting Indians, but the trampling women and children had a hard time of it, and the few men stationed at the fort, and especially the young Captain, had almost more than they could do to keep order and still remain in a posture of defense against the very real Indian enemy only thirty miles away.

Amidst all of these alarms the camp of the Coweliskies lay like a dark cloud under the fort, portending danger, and many a mother and many a fighting man, looking at it with apprehension, wished that it might be destroyed before it broke and scattered, carrying fire and death with it.