His mission was one of the greatest peril, for there was imminent danger that the justly angered savages would take his life.

But he was a man who never rushed heedlessly into purposeless peril, and never flinched from a danger which there was an object in encountering.

His quiet, resolute fearlessness doubtless impressed the savages to whom he went, and helped to save his life; moreover, the Cherokees knew him, trusted his word, and were probably a little overawed by a certain air of command to which all men that were thrown in contact with him bore witness.

His ready tact and knowledge of Indian character did the rest.

He persuaded the chiefs and warriors to meet him in council, assured them of the anger and sorrow with which all the Watauga people viewed the murder, which had undoubtedly been committed by some outsider, and wound up by declaring his determination to try to have the wrong-doer arrested and punished according to his crime.