A man who would not shoot an enemy in the back, who was ready to put the same faith in another soldier's honor which he knew was due to his own, yet in battle a wolfish fighter who leaped through the dark to give no quarter and to take none--he was fit challenger to those other mountaineers who also had a chivalry of their own, albeit they too were wolves of war.
When Shelby on the Holston received Ferguson's pungent letter, he flung himself on his horse and rode posthaste to Watauga to consult, with Sevier.

He found the bank of the Nolichucky teeming with merrymakers.
Nolichucky Jack was giving an immense barbecue and a horse race.

Without letting the festival crowd have an inkling of the serious nature of Shelby's errand, the two men drew apart to confer.

It is said to have been Sevier's idea that they should muster the forces of the western country and go in search of Ferguson ere the latter should be able to get sufficient reinforcements to cross the mountains.

Sevier, like Ferguson, always preferred to seek his foe, knowing well the advantage of the offensive.