Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts.djvu/77

 laid our ears closer to the ground with a sense of security, while the blast swept on to alarm other men.

The pines murmured, the water rippled, and the tent rocked a little, and before sun rise we were ready to pursue our voyage as usual.

As late as 1724 there were no houses or settlements on the north side of the Nashua. In September of that year two men who were engaged in making turpentine on this side were taken captive and carried to Canada by a party of thirty Indians. Ten of the inhabitants of Dunstable, going to look for them, found the hoops of their barrels cut and the turpentine spread on the ground; but one, named Farwell, perceiving that the turpentine had not done spreading, concluded that the Indians had been gone but a short time, and they consequently went in instant pursuit. Following directly on the trail of the Indians (contrary to the advice of Farwell) they fell into an ambuscade near Thornton's Ferry on the Merrimac, and nine were killed; Farwell alone escaping after a vigorous pursuit. He lived to fight another [29]