"We are all in high spirits," he assures the proprietors, "and on thorns to fly to Boone's assistance, and join him in defense of so fine and valuable a country." Laconically eloquent is this simple entry in his diary: "Saturday the 8th.

Started abt.

10 oClock Crossed Cumberland Gap about 4 miles met about 40 persons Returning from the Cantucky, on Acct.
of the Late Murders by the Indians could prevail on one only to return.

Memo Several Virginians who were with us return'd." There is no more crucial moment in early Western history than this, in which we see the towering form of Henderson, clad in the picturesque garb of the pioneer, with outstretched arm resolutely pointing forward to the "dark and bloody ground," and in impassioned but futile eloquence pleading with the pale and panic-stricken fugitives to turn about, to join his company, and to face once more the mortal dangers of pioneer conquest.
Significant indeed are the lines: Some to endure, and many to fail, Some to conquer, and many to quail, Toiling over the Wilderness Trail.
The spirit of the pioneer knight-errant inspires Henderson's words: "In this situation, some few, of genuine courage and undaunted resolution, served to inspire the rest; by the help of whose example, assisted by a little pride and some ostentation, we made a shift to march on with all the appearance of gallantry, and, cavalier like, treated every insinuation of danger with the utmost contempt." Fearing that Boone, who did not even know that Henderson's cavalcade was on the road, would be unable to hold out, Henderson realized the imperative necessity for sending him a message of encouragement.

The bold young Virginian, William Cocke, volunteered to brave alone the dangers of the murder-haunted trail to undertake a ride more truly memorable and hazardous than that of Revere.