One of the Indians shot a hog and tossed it into a canoe they had hidden under the bank.

The captive was told to enter the canoe and lie down; three Indians then got in, while the fourth started to swim the stolen horses across the river.
Fortunately for the captured boy three of the settlers had chosen this day to return to the abandoned clearing and look after the loose stock.
They reached the place shortly after the Indians, and just in time to hear the report of the rifle when the hog was shot.

The owner of the hogs, instead of suspecting that there were Indians near by, jumped to the conclusion that a Kentucky boat had landed, and that the immigrants were shooting his hogs--for the people who drifted down the Ohio in boats were not, when hungry, over-scrupulous concerning the right to stray live stock.

Running forward, the three men had almost reached the river, when they heard the loud snorting of one of the horses as it was forced into the water.

As they came out on the bank they saw the canoe, with three Indians in it, and in the bottom four rifles, the dead hog, and young Wetzel stretched at full length; the Indian in the stern was just pushing off from the shore with his paddle; the fourth Indian was swimming the horses a few yards from shore.