I among the rest had now a view of this exuberant west, this
great valley of the Hesperides; and I determined to assist in
extirpating the red man, and to usurp the land of his fathers. Among the
men who were at the village, I found one who for magnanimity and
undaunted courage merits a wreath which should hang high in the temple
of fame, and yet, like hundreds of others, he has passed away unhonored,
unsung. His name was Ralph Watts, a sturdy Virginian, with a heart
surpassing all which has been said of Virginia's sons, in those
qualities which ennoble the man; and possessing a courage indomitable,
and a frame calculated in every way to fulfil whatever his daring spirit
suggested. Such was Ralph Watts. I had only been in the town a few days,
when Ralph and I contracted an intimacy which ended only with his death.
I was passing the small inn of the town, when a tall man, with a hunting
shirt and leggings on, stepped out and, laying his hand on my shoulder,
said: 'Stranger, they say you have just come among us, and that you are
poor; come along. I have got just five dollars, no man shall ever say
that Ralph Watts passed a moneyless man without sharing with him the
contents of his pocket--come along.
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