John T. McIntyre

“ Lower and still lower bent Long Panther, whiter and whiter gleamed his teeth; faster and still faster flew the thundering hoofs of the wicked looking steed. But nothing on four feet could have outstepped the rush of the flame-eyed Hawk; no one who ever sat in a saddle could have outdone in determination the boy who bestrode him. In a half dozen mighty bounds the Hawk was nose and nose with the horse of the Indian ”

“ Toward the end of July Squire Boone returned with horses, meal and ammunition. Then after a time they pressed on toward the Cumberland River, or what is now so called, and explored the country in that direction. More and more beautiful the region grew to Daniel; more and more he determined that it would be his future home.
“It’s a paradise on earth,” he told Squire. “There never was such a hunting-ground, such forests or such a chance for farming. If any man is to find peace anywhere, it is in this country which we have discovered.” ”

“ As cunning as foxes the Indians, knowing that they would be swiftly hunted by the whites, took pains to hide their trail from the very start. And the methods used threw off the trackers for a short time. Into a dense cane-brake led the tracks, and then they seemed to disappear. Keenly, eagerly the hunters sought here and there, but the wile of the savage baffled them.
“Lads,” said Boone, finally, wiping his brow, and leaning upon his long rifle, “there’s no use in wasting time. As soon as the varmints got into the cane they separated and slipped through it like ghosts. ”

“ Even in his school days, Daniel was known as a hunter; his eye was of the best and his rifle seldom failed. His passion for the wilderness was shown in those early times when he’d wander away in the silent forest and be missing for days. Then they would hunt for him and find him encamped miles and miles away, perhaps cooking his supper at a fire of sticks and calmly planning the building of a hut which was to shelter him for days to come.
A story is told of him which proves his early skill as a hunter. With some other lads of his own age, he started off for a day’s hunting of small game. ”

“ It had been an active day for the savages; it had been thought that a party of Cherokees had entered the region, and all the warriors of Black Wolf’s band had been ranging the woods searching for their trail. And so these braves, whose duty it was to keep a careful eye upon the adopted whites, grew heavy eyed as the night wore on; [91] their deep breathing told the wide-awake Boone that all were asleep.
Stuart, also, was asleep; carefully Boone awoke him.
“The time’s come,” he whispered in the ear of the surprised backwoodsman. “Make no noise; all the critters are as sound as rocks.” ”

“ DANIEL BOONE, MARKSMAN
Mounted upon his powerful bay horse, Daniel Boone the following day rode toward Holman’s Ford. This point was some eight miles from Hillsboro, and it was here that the young men of the settlement met each fall for their hardy frontier games.
Keen-sighted youths, bearing long barrelled flint-locks, eagerly awaited this, the test of their skill; sturdy wrestlers burned to match their thews against each other; and the runners, both horse and man, were equally anxious to show their quality. ”

“ Seeing that the white men were in no wise daunted by the onslaught and were determined to make a grim resistance, the Indians, who had little stomach for this sort of battle, withdrew.
“They are gone,” spoke young Barclay, as he mounted a hillock and saw the band skirting the forest, almost a mile away.
“For the time,” answered Boone. “They don’t care for a stand-up fight; but they’ll always be ready for the rifle-shot from ambush. Always expect them, lads; that’s the only way to get through in safety.”
Warily the pioneers proceeded along the track which afterward became known as “Boone’s Way” ”

“ Boone was like that,” said Sandy. “I’d watch the way he’d ride his horse, or hold his rifle, or speak to any one who’d meet him. He had a way about him that told you he’d be a hard man to beat.”
[108] “I think to do what you set out to do is one of the best proofs of quality in a man,” spoke Oliver. “Sometimes it’s easy, and sometimes it’s hard to do; but to do it’s the thing, and nothing else will answer if you mean to be worth anything.”
It was late in September in the year 1774 that Boone started, with his family, to take up his home in the country beyond the Laurel Ridge. ”

“ The chief then resumed:
“You have killed in the hunting-grounds of the Shawnees, and for this your lives belong to Black Wolf and his braves. But the chief would spare you; he does not wish to see you die. Rather would he see you, his brothers, living in the wigwams of the Shawnees and taking to the war-path against his people’s foes.” ”

“ Before the band of white men, as they [68] stood upon an eminence of the ridge on the day they first sighted Kentucky, was a vast rolling country, roamed by herds of horned beasts, splendid streams and valleys which promised a rich yield to the hand which drove the plow through it.
But after a space given to wonder and admiration, Boone noted that the sun was slipping little by little behind the green rim of the forest.
“I think, boys,” suggested he, “we’d better look for a likely place to camp for the night. ”

“ Having reached a ground which would give them an advantage, the Indians made a stand and began to rain arrows and lead upon the soldiers of the colony. In almost the first fire the colonels of the two regiments fell dead. A confusion seized the troops, and as it spread from rank to rank they began a retreat full of disorder.
This panic of the whites was seen by Oliver as he stood under guard among the trees, and the boy’s heart sank at the sight.
“They run!” said a voice beside him, and turning he recognized Long Panther. “They run like wolves before a forest fire. ”

“ New emigrants go to other places where there are better laws and less taxes.”
Daniel Boone nodded.
“Tax gatherers, magistrates, lawyers and such like live like aristocrats,” said he, “and the farmers and other settlers are asked to support them. We are here in the settlements, it seems, for no other purpose than to give these fellows a soft living. And they take our money and treat us like servants. A peddler who hucksters among the Indians is thought a better man than the one who has cut a form out of the wilderness with his axe.” ”

“ Hawk stood as still as a beast of bronze, seeming to understand something of the danger of which he was a partaker. No sound reached the lad; from off among the trees he saw the flitting forms of the Indians about the camp-fires; but none of them seemed nearer. During the time spent at the port-holes of the Curley cabin, young Barclay had observed the lie of the land, thinking there might [146] come a time when a dash for liberty would be their only chance. ”

“ Then up the farther bank they sped and across a clearing which they perceived [124] behind a thin fringe of trees. Swift and soft thudded the hoofs of their dying horses upon the ground; through the tops of some ancient oaks they caught the outline of the chimney of a white man’s dwelling; and between the thick growing trunks they saw the plumes and war paint of the savages who encircled it. ”

“ And when spring came, their work not being done and their provisions and ammunition being low, it was determined that Squire go back to the settlements for a fresh supply.
“But, Dan,” said the unselfish younger brother, “I don’t care to leave you here in the midst of danger.”
Daniel placed his hands upon his shoulders, and said, gravely:
“You are doing your share, when all’s said and done. True, there is peril here; but is there more, lad, than you will face as you press back across the mountains alone?”
And so Squire mounted a horse, waved a good-bye and set out. ”

“ No matter how good the chance seems for a while, we must not try to get away; for it will only win us a dozen or so arrows in our backs. After a little while they’ll grow slack in their watching. If they see us living quietly as they live, doing the things they do, they’ll come to trust us more and more. And then our chance will come—and we’ll make the best of it.”
Keeping up an intent observation of the savages, Stuart gradually came to the conclusion that what Boone said was true. Not a moment passed but they found themselves closely watched by the Shawnees. ”

“ Each of the adventurers had slung across his back the very long, flint-lock rifle made famous by their breed and generation; they also carried keen, heavy knives and hatchets; only a few pistols were to be seen among them. They wore deerskin hunting shirts and tanned leggins of the same material; their powder-horns and bullet-pouches swung from their shoulders.
Boone and the others had said good-bye to their families and now sat their horses in the trail along the Yadkin, having a last word with Colonel Henderson, who had ridden from Hillsboro to see them off. ”

“ Boone nodded.
“Just keep your eye peeled,” spoke he. “Do you see how the varmints go along—careless and never noticing us? Never a look do they give us, so far as I can see. But,” and he covertly clutched his companion’s arm in his strong grip, “they’re noticing us, never fear. They see everything we do, every look we give away from the track we’re following. This is not a hunt, comrade; it’s a test of our intentions. They are trying us. And the trial will go on in different ways for days. Some one [88] will always be watching us; to try and escape will mean death for us.” ”

“ Boone nodded.
“I don’t know as I blame you in that,” spoke he. “A renegade is as mean a critter as walks the earth. But it’d be just as well if we kept our feelings on that point from the Shawnees.”
“You mean——”
“That if we’re asked to join the tribe, we’d better not refuse. It’s life if we can [83] deceive them, and death by horrible torture if we refuse.”
“I don’t like the notion of even seeming to be an Injun,” spoke Stuart, who was a brave man and stubborn in his courage. ”

“ Oliver Barclay was to go with the party in the interest of his uncle, and Eph and Sandy, full of the desire for the wilderness, were among the first to offer themselves.
Mounted upon Hawk, for the good horse had escaped the Indians upon the night of his master’s capture and wandered back to the Curleys’ cabin, Oliver rode along with Boone over the same trail they had traveled upon the previous attempt to get beyond the mountains.
“This time,” said Oliver, “we’ll reach the new country. For I suppose the Indians are fairly well satisfied by the terms they made.” ”

“ Daniel Boone shook his head.
“Signing writings and sending them to Tryon will do no good,” said he. “He’s a tyrant and understands nothing but oppression.” Then in a longing tone, his eyes on the distant hills, “I wish I were away from the Yadkin for good and all. No man can be free here as long as we have public officers who think of nothing but plunder.”
“As I said before,” said Colonel Henderson, in a satisfied tone, “there are a great many others who are of the same way of thinking as you. But they have nowhere to go ”

“ Though Boone had never been taken captive by the Indians before, he knew, from talks with those who had, and from his knowledge of savage ceremony, that in cases [82] like their own, a certain form was always gone through before torture and death were resorted to.
“They’ll keep us,” he told Stuart, “and try to get us to come into the tribe. It’s a strange kink in their natures that though they hate the white, they seldom fail to try to make him one of them by adoption if they have the chance.”
“You think they’ll try and make Shawnees of us?” ”

“ Suddenly, without a moment’s warning, a volley rang out from a dense thicket, two of the party fell to the earth—dead—and two others were wounded.
This attack was much like that on the previous expedition; never for a moment did the whites suspect that the redskins were near. But there the similarity ended. This time the pioneers had no women and children to think of; also they were, in the main, well-trained, crafty Indian fighters, and not a band of careless boys engaged in driving cattle. ”

“ DEFENDING A LOG CABIN
A swift glance showed Oliver Barclay that there were perhaps twoscore Indians in the band. Directly in front were about half this number fighting from behind stumps, logs and tree trunks.
“At them at top speed,” said Oliver, “and each pick an important man if you can see one. After you fire, shout as loud as you can!”
Like thunderbolts the three lads swept down upon the war party of Shawnees. Shooting from the saddle, with horse going at top speed, was one of the tricks of marksmanship cherished and practiced by the youths at the frontier ”

“ The young horse had gained in power since the day of his race with the wicked mount of Long Panther; and his increased years had lost him his coltish tricks. As he stood now he was a swift, intelligent horse of the sort which can be depended upon.
“Now, old fellow,” spoke the boy as he finished with the saddle and stood patting Hawk’s neck. “This is going to be a very lively night for both of us. So do your best for me; more depends on your heels to-night than ever before in your life.”
Sharply Eph Taylor scoured the clearing before the cabin ”

“ The old Indian advanced a step or two, supporting himself by a long staff. Keenly the serpent eyes gazed at the three whites.
“Death will meet the paleface,” said he. “He will never build his lodge in the country beyond the mountains. Let him once pass the great gap, and he is no more.”
Boone laughed. ”

“ But Boone, his brother, and others of the party were for pushing on.
“Attacks by the Indians are to be expected,” said the pioneer; “they will always resist the march of the white man. And if we are to settle the rich country on the other side of the hills, it’s not by weakening under the first blow they strike. We must press forward; we must strike back; we must never for a moment show the varmints that we fear them.”
But the bold counsel of Daniel was not listened to. ”