These were anxious
days for my mother and her little family. My first real work as a scout
began then, for I had to keep constantly on the watch for raids by the
ruffians, who had now sworn that father must die.
As soon as he was able to walk we decided that he must be got away.
Twenty-five miles distant, at Grasshopper Falls, were a party of his
friends. There he hoped one day to plant a colony. With the help of a
few friends we moved him thither one night, but word of his whereabouts
soon reached his enemies.
I kept constantly on the alert, and, hearing that a party had set out
to murder him at the Falls, I got into the saddle and sped out to warn
him.
At a ford on the way I ran into the gang, who had stopped to water
their horses.
As I galloped past, one of them yelled: "There's Cody's kid now on his
way to warn his father. Stop, you, and tell us where your old man is."
A pistol shot, to terrify me into obedience, accompanied the command. I
may have been terrified, but it was not into obedience. I got out of
there like a shot, and though they rode hard on my trail my pony was
too fast for them. My warning was in time.
We got father as quickly as we could to Lawrence, which was an
abolition stronghold, and where he was safe for the time being. He
gradually got back a part of his strength, enough of it at any rate to
enable him to take part in the repulse of a raid of Missourians who
came over to burn Lawrence and lynch the Abolitionists.
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