The snow
lasted a long time, but it was finally swept away by big rains.
It poured for two days and nights, and even when the rain ceased
the snow continued to melt under the warmer air. The water
rushed in great torrents down the cliffs, and would have entered
"The Alcove" had not the five made provision to turn it away. As
it was, they sat snug and dry, listening to the gush of the
water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one another.
Yet the time dragged.
"Man wuz never made to be a caged animile," said Shif'less Sol.
"The longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become. My
temper don't improve, neither, an' I ain't happy."
"Guess it's the same with all uv us," said Tom Ross.
But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was
still cold weather, they began again to range the forest far in
every direction, and they found that the Indians, and the Tories
also, were becoming active. There were more burnings, more
slaughters, and more scalpings. The whole border was still
appalled at the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and the
savages were continually spreading over a wider area. Braxton
Wyatt at the head of his band, and with the aid of his Tory
lieutenant, Levi Coleman, had made for himself a name equal to
that of Walter Butler.
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