Such
was their respect, and even affection for the hunter of Kentucky, and
such, perhaps, their estimate of his capability of annoying them, that
although Governor Hamilton offered them the large sum of a hundred
pounds sterling for his ransom, they utterly refused to part with him.
It may easily be imagined, in what a vexatious predicament this
circumstance placed him; a circumstance so much the more embarrassing,
as he could not express his solicitude for deliverance, without alarming
the jealousy and ill feeling of the Indians. Struck with his appearance
and development of character, several English gentlemen, generously
impressed with a sense of his painful position, offered him a sum of
money adequate to the supply of his necessities. Unwilling to accept
such favors from the enemies of his country, he refused their kindness,
alleging a motive at once conciliating and magnanimous, that it would
probably never be in his power to repay them. It will be necessary to
contemplate his desolate and forlorn condition, haggard, and without any
adequate clothing in that inclement climate, destitute of money or
means, and at the same time to realize that these men, who so generously
offered him money, were in league with those that were waging war
against the United States, fully to appreciate the patriotism and
magnanimity of this refusal. It is very probable, too, that these men
acted from the interested motive of wishing to bind the hands of this
stern border warrior from any further annoyance to them and their red
allies, by motives of gratitude and a sense of obligation.
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