Nevertheless the war continued without a break, bands of warriors from the middle towns coming to the help of their disheartened Overhill brethren.

Sevier determined to try one of his swift, sudden strokes against these new foes.

Early in March he rode off at the head of a hundred and fifty picked horsemen, resolute to penetrate the hitherto untrodden wilds that shielded the far-off fastnesses where dwelt the Erati.

Nothing shows his daring, adventurous nature more clearly than his starting on such an expedition; and only a man of strong will and much power could have carried it to a successful conclusion.

For a hundred and fifty miles he led his horsemen through a mountainous wilderness where there was not so much as a hunter's trail.