whose dearest interests were only to be preserved by the suppression of this dangerous and desperate gang.

On the twenty-eighth of September Mr. Stewart left the house of his old and valued friend, Col. Loftin, and took up his departure for Lexington, Kentucky, and towards evening reached the house of Mr. Deberry, the then acting sheriff of Madison county, with whom he remained till the next morning, and on the twenty-ninth again proceeded upon his journey by the way of Perry county, where he wished to meet with a gentleman who had written him concerning a tract of land in the State of Mississippi which he wished to purchase of Mr. Stewart. There was another reason, however, why Mr. Stewart wished to travel by a circuitous route, and avoid those roads which were most frequented, which was, that he might avoid observation as much as possible upon his journey, and at the same time evade being intercepted on the way by any of the prowling emissaries of that formidable and dangerous gang, to whom he had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious by his generous devotion to the interests of his country, by throwing open to the gaze of the world the picture of their iniquity.

The circumstances in which Mr. Stewart was placed naturally made him distrustful, and his mind was continually on the alert. Under this state of feeling he had kept his intention of making the journey a profound secret, and to all inquiries as to when he intended to leave that part of the country he made the most circumspect replies.

On the night of the 29th, Mr. Stewart put up at a country house on the road, where he imagined that he

should be most likely to pass the night without observation, and quietly prosecute his journey next morning, after having enjoyed the grateful refreshment of a quiet night's rest; but he had not long been here before his anticipations were dissipated by the sudden arrival of four men, who immediately made known their intentions of passing the night at the house. From these men Mr. Stewart failed not to receive a most scrutinizing glance. They scanned his person with the most critical eye, and endeavoured by the most inquisitive interrogatories to learn every thing connected with his intended course; as to what part of the country he intended journeying; and by what roads he should most probably travel; whether he intended crossing the Tennessee river; and, if so, by what ferry; and what direction he would then take. These and many other such questions were put to him by the strangers: and, although there was nothing in them more than might naturally be expected from travellers journeying through the same country, and anticipating enjoyment from each other's society, still, to the naturally acute and peculiarly sensitive mind of Mr. Stewart, they seemed to convey an ominous import. He had been long enough among men of desperate character to know that they could at pleasure assume the guise of friendship, the better to hide under its blandishments the evil designs which they meditated; and knowing, too, as he did, the peculiar relation in which he had placed himself in regard to a gang of desperadoes, whose nefarious designs were too well understood by him to give him any promise of mercy if he should chance to fall into

their hands. Ever on the alert, and naturally suspicious of every stranger, he determined to know no man by his appearance and pretensions, let them be never so alluring; and, acting in the present case under these feelings, he studied every precaution to give to their inquiries the most evasive answers, and, at the same time, if possible, preserve the appearance and manners of one entirely ignorant of their designs. By his answers he led them to suppose that he had business in the neighbourhood which would detain him several days; but, in an unguarded moment, he unthinkingly inquired of the host, in their hearing, which was the nearest road to Patton's Ferry, and what distance it was hence; and it was not until circumstances afterward brought it to his remembrance, that his mind reflected upon the unsuspecting inquiry which he had made, and which was sufficient at once to frustrate all his previous carefulness in returning evasive answers to the interrogatories of the strangers. But so it often chances, that in the very moment of our self-assumed security, we are most apt to lay ourselves open to the very snares which our most artful and ingenious endeavours had been exerted to conceal.

By daybreak the next morning the four strangers left the house where they had lodged over night; and Mr. Stewart, after having remained to breakfast with the host and his family, departed upon the same road, and continued his journey that day to the house of Mr. Gilbert, where he was detained until the morning of the 2d of October, when he again proceeded upon his journey.

Mr. Stewart had determined to cross the Tennes

see river at Patton's Ferry, and pursue his journey 'through Columbia, in Murray county, and from thence to Lexington, Kentucky, by the way of Nashville, hoping thereby to be able to elude the pursuit of any who might have observed his motions with an evil design. The wild and desolate region of country extending along the road between Jackson and Patton's Ferry, seemed calculated to excite the most unpleasant emotions in the mind of a solitary traveller, and seemed fraught with dark forebodings to a mind so feelingly alive to every gloomy sensation as that of Mr. Stewart. The feelings which this dreary prospect created induced Mr. Stewart to place himself in readiness for any emergency that might chance to occur, and accordingly he withdrew his pistol from his portmanteau, where he had hitherto carried it, and, after carefully examining it, placed it in his side pocket.

Mr. Stewart had, until now, placed more reliance in the hope of eluding danger and observation, than in the event of a physical resistance when such danger might be at hand. Having taken these precautions, he continued his journey solitarily through this desolate and inhospitable region, and throughout the morning met with scarce an object to relieve his mind from the deep gloom that seemed to hang like an incubus upon him; and in this state of feeling he journeyed along until it had reached the hour of four in the afternoon, by which time he had arrived at within some eight or ten miles of the ferry, when he was suddenly startled by the appearance of three men fully armed, who had been concealed behind trees by the roadside.

Mr. Stewart was for a moment startled by this sudden attack; but, instantly recovering his self-possession, he placed himself in an attitude of defence. The assassin on his right ordered him to dismount; but, notwithstanding the overpowering numbers and strength of his enemies, he summoned to his aid all his fortitude, and manfully refused to obey the summons; but his situation was truly hazardous, and, in all probability, one who had seen less of the buffets and hardships of life would have yielded a pliant and passive obedience to the stern mandate of a gang of desperadoes, armed at all points with the glittering weapons of death.

In the countenance of one of the villains Mr. Stewart imagined that he recognised the features of one of the four men who had lodged at the same house with him on the night of the twenty-ninth of September, but the other two he had no recollection of ever having seen before. He saw depicted in the countenances of all the appearance of determined vengeance and slaughter; and, as the fearful weapons of destruction were clashing and gleaming around him, he felt that each moment was destined to be his last. He saw himself within the very jaws of death; but the grim monster did not unman him of his firmness and determined resolution. He was determined to sell his life as dearly as possible, and either die defending the sacred gift which he had received from his Creator, or escape, if not immediate death, at least the premeditated tortures which he knew they had in store for him, and which he knew they would inflict with no sparing hand.